RWBY: Dans le Nid d'Aigle
by Ausslaugand
Summary: The day after Christmas on the Western Front in 1914, the French, Scottish, and the Germans find that their Christmas Truce took for an unexpected turn of events. Stranded in a forest that neither side recognises, their truce will be tested to the limits as they enter a new world called, Remnant. Will both sides unite together, or will they revert to killing each other once more?
1. Chapter 01

**Warning** **: This story is a work of fan-based fiction, and this author does not own the RWBY franchise, the Joyeux Noel movie, or anything that is related to the works or in any subject in relation of politics, economics, society, technology, or culture. In addition, this story is optimised for fanfiction readers on electronics, such as, I-pods, I-phones, Tablets, and etc; though this story is still compatible with computers, it is recommended to read this story on an electronic or a half-minimised window in order to maximised the best reading experience. Furthermore, this story contains scenes and material that may be disturbing for readers; therefore, parental discretion is advised. Lastly, this story is inspired by the French film, "** _ **Joyeux Noël**_ **", and thereby all the credit and work belongs to its respectable owners/creators.**

 ** _READER'S DISCRETION HAS BEEN ADVISED_**

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 **RWBY** **: Dans le Nid d'Aigle**

 **Writer** **: Ausslaugand**

 **Publisher** **: Ausslaugand**

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 **Chapter 01** **-** **Qu'est-ce que les Arbres** **?**

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French Lieutenant Camille René Audebert slowly opened his eyes to find himself greeted to the smell of wood, dirt, and snow once again. Safe within the confinements of the wooden bunker, Audebert arose from his sleep and slowly shook himself to shake off any dust or dirt particles; however, as he proceeded in getting himself back into his military uniform, there was something that felt strangely and untraceably odd. He did not think any of it at first as he finished suiting up and putting his kepi back onto his head, though as he stepped out of the bunker and into the winter morning, Private Ponchel came running around the left shallow corner of the trench before giving Audebert a shout, "Lieutenant!"

"Ponchel, ce qui se passe? _(_ _Ponchel, what's going on?_ _)_ " Audebert commanded as he saw Ponchel panting before rising his head up and pointing to the right and out of the trench.

"Regarde autour de toi. En dehors des tranchées. _(_ _Look around you. Outside of the trenches._ _)_ " Ponchel replied, with his voice slightly coarse from the running and the obvious panic in his voice, "Il y a des arbres qui sont apparus de nulle part! _(_ _There are trees that appeared out of nowhere!_ _)_ "

Audebert looked to his right and was surprised to notice a field of big deciduous trees extended around the perimeter of the French trenches. The last time that he checked throughout his months in the western trenches, all the trees had been reduced to ashes or stumps as a result of the artillery and machine guns; however, considering the fact that the French were also supported by the Scottish trenches nearby, Audebert turned to his left and partially perched himself outside of the trenches to find that the trees were extending beyond the Scottish trenches as well. Worst of all, as he looked towards the German trenches in front of him across no man's land, he suddenly had a sinking feeling in his gut as he almost inaudibly gawked the abnormal size of the trees.

As Audebert and many Europeans knew, deciduous trees in the winter should already be nothing more but bare skeletons with no leaves or signs of life at all; however, these trees were unusual not only for their abnormal height and size, but they still had their leaves despite the fact that it's the day after Christmas. There was snow everywhere outside (admit the barbwire, craters, and the burial sites of the French, Scottish, and German soldiers), and among snow, all the soldiers among both opposing trenches were standing or peering out of the trenches and looking up towards the trees as if they were like alien visitors that appeared out of nowhere. In addition, it also did not help the fact that Audebert was able to hear the Scottish nearby cursing at the sight of the trees, and one of those voices belonged to Scots Fusiliers Lieutenant Gordon, "Where these bleedin' trees come from?! _(_ _Lorsque ces arbres sanglants viennent de?!_ _)_ "

Uttering out a sigh under his breath, as Audebert was clambered out of the trench, he saw German Lieutenant Horstmayer emerge from the German trenches across No Man's Land and walked quickly towards Audebert's direction. Following suit, Audebert emerged from the French trenches and approached Horstmayer, with both Lieutenants giving brief salutes before Audebert greeted him, "Matin. _(_ _Morning._ _)_ "

Horstmayer only nodded his head as he brought his salute down and spoke up his mind about the situation on hand, "Ecoutez, est-il possible que nous les agents parlent de cette situation? _(_ _Listen, is it possible that we officers talk about this situation?_ _)_ "

Audebert and Horstmayer gave a brief silence as Audebert looked around momentarily and asked him only one question in mind as to what the situation was, "Vous voulez dire que les arbres? _(_ _You mean the trees?_ _)_ "

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 **Elsewhere** **,** **Beacon Academy** **,** **Team JNPR Dormitory**

Jaune Arc snored rather loudly as he remained fast asleep in his dorm bed; however, he was almost entirely submerged under the shelter of his bedsheets and blankets, with only the top of his head and eyes poking out of the covers. From a distance, he looked extremely comfy and quite adorable in the way he wrapped himself in bedsheets and blankets, and added to the fact that he curled almost in a ball-like shape under his covers. Unfortunately, Jaune was not wrapped within the covers due to comfort or even being adorable at all.

As Jaune made a momentary groan, it turned out that he was slightly shivering under his blankets as if he was scared or cold. The rest of Team JNPR seemed to be fast asleep rather unaffected; however, none of the team members in Team JNPR were any better than Jaune down below. Particularly, Nora was shiver quite apparently as she slowly tumbled and turned in her bed in her attempt to stay warm and comfortable, and if that was not worst enough, the presence of a cold mist appeared to the left from Pyrrha's bed.

Almost wide awake and shivering, Pyrrha had apparently awoken to find that the entire dormitory was cold. Being in nothing but her red nightgown and with her blanket wrapped around her body, Pyrrha waddled over to the doorway and flicked on the light switch. Not surprisingly, Ren stirred awake with a jarred yet brief mumbling just seconds after the lights came on; however, his voice was drowned out by Nora's muffled groaning from her bed, "Ren…five more minutes, and I'll be up."

Momentarily, Pyrrha walked over to the left towards the closet and reached for any jacket she could find upon first glance; which turned out to be Jaune's spare hoodie. For the moment, she let the blanket that was wrapped around her body dropped to the floor and zipped herself up into Jaune's spare hoodie to help her combat the cold temperature in the dormitory; however, he actions did not go entirely unnoticed. As she picked up her blanket and turned around upon closing the closet, Jaune happened to have stirred awake and uttered out his first words in a combination of worry and curiosity, "Eh…is that…my spare hoodie?"

"Uh…of course…" Pyrrha nervously uttered, and while shivering at the same time, "I'm a little cold, and this is…quite comfy."

"A little?" Jaune asked rather baffled and shivery by the other half of Pyrrha's reply, "It's freezing in here…"

At the same time, Jaune could not help but actually feel partially amused as he stared at Pyrrha wearing his spare hoodie. Thankfully, the rest of his face was hiding behind his blankets and bedcovers to mask his amusement; however, it did not take Pyrrha too long to notice the way how Jaune was staring at her with such gaiety in his eyes. Subsequently, Pyrrha could only blush as she took comfort in wearing Jaune's spare hoodie.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going for a nice hot shower if this keeps up any longer." Nora yawned loudly as she arose from her bed before having to shiver.

"I'll back you up on that." Ren agreed as he shook himself awake upon arising from his slumber, which made Nora giggled happily despite shivering herself off.

Jaune groaned before he forced himself to arose from his bedcovers and stand up with nothing more but his blankets covering him; however, he found himself a state of surprise when he opened the curtains to find that there was snow outside down below. Mist and frost had already formed on the windows outside, and there was a clear yet nearly grey sky outside, which was mostly thick enough to hide the sun under a cover of cold clouds. Subsequently, the morning atmosphere was not too dark or bright, but with ice and snow outside, it was quite a shocker for Jaune and the rest of Team JNPR.

"Snow…already?" Jaune uttered out loud as he brushed the right curtain to the side, "It's spring."

"Well, late season snowfall is not uncommon during spring." Ren suggested as he stood up from his bed and peered out the window along with the rest of team JNPR.

"Ah…, touché." Jaune blurred out loud in agreement while shrugging his shoulders, "Still, we shouldn't be getting any more snow this late into the semester though."

"You know, speaking of snow; this makes for a good day for a snowball fight." Pyrrha added as she peered out the window.

"Yeah…" Jaune agreed while trying to keep himself warm with the help of his bedsheets and blankets.

"Yeah?" Nora scrutinised Jaune as she shot up from her bed and joined on the rest of team JNPR, "That would be awesome for all that snow outside!"

"Hmm…isn't it uh…" Jaune thought out loud to team JNPR, "What day is it?"

"Saturday." Ren replied stoically.

"Oh, okay th-" Jaune replied before a notification rang from everyone's scrolls.

Jaune reached for his scroll on the nightstand located before the window, and read the following message sent to him and his team members:

" _Attention Team JNPR. Please Report to the Headmaster's Office by 9:00 a.m. to receive instructions for today's mission. More details will be debriefed upon your arrival. Professor Glynda Goodwitch."_

Jaune placed his scroll back onto the nightstand and let it clatter for barely a moment before Jaune took a seat on his bead again.

"Whose was it?" Pyrrha asked and turning her head towards her partner.

"It's Professor Goodwitch." Jaune replied, "She wants us to report to Ozpin's office by nine o'clock, since we're being given a mission."

"A mission?" Pyrrha asked back as if Jaune misread something, "Out in this weather on a Saturday?"

"Oh don't know, but it is…," Jaune assured in light-hearted yet optimistic manner, "It would just be a training session."

"Well if that's so, we're in no condition going out in this kind of weather." Ren opposed as he checked his scroll already, "The last time I checked the closet, we have little to no coats; save for my spare tailcoat and your hoodie."

"I have an idea. Why don't we ask team RWBY?" Nora suggested, "I'm pretty sure Ruby would be nice enough to have some coats that we can borrow."

"Eh…I think team RWBY is in the same situation as us right now." Jaune countered as he nodded his head in disagreement.

"Hey …you can't prove that until we see what they're doing!" Nora exclaimed rather offended by Jaune's disagreement.

"Jaune." Ren partly sneered in support of Nora's exclamation, "At least that's a place to start."

"Well, I mean it is…" Jaune hesitated, "It's a matter of fact that there wouldn't be anything to fit the two of us."

"Hmm…that's true." Ren agreed as he looked at himself and his hands as well; however, that still made him deadpan the other half of his answer, "But we got to find something for all of us before we even go outside."

"Maybe Ozpin will recommend something to us once we get to his office." Pyrrha suggested, "I think he and the rest of the academy staff are well aware of the situation."

"Hmm…" Jaune, and Ren just moments later, muttered under his voice before Nora made her agreement as well.

"Oh Pyrrha, aren't you a genius?" Nora happily teased, thereby making Pyrrha blush a bit.

"Well…uh…" Jaune began as he arose from his bed and slowly taking off his bedcovers that were wrapped around his body, "Who's going to take a shower first?"

"ME!" Nora said before she rushed to the bathroom in a blur.

The rest of team JNPR stood in sudden surprise before Ren made a momentary groan to himself, "Welp, so much for seeing who goes first."

Jaune could only groan out loud as his facial expression became that of irritation and disappointment.

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 **Meanwhile** **,** **Beacon Academy** **,** **Ozpin's Office**

Headmaster Ozpin took a sip from his coffee mug as he looked out the frost and mist covered windows of his office. With the sudden snowfall outside, and the fact that much of Beacon Academy is caught by surprise with the presence of the cold temperature, Ozpin made his coffee extra hot along with a coaster to act as lid for his coffee mug. Setting his coffee mug down on his desk and covering it with the coaster, he looked out his office window to observe the snowy environment outside down below.

Whether it be by coincidence or by common sense, Ozpin knew that sudden snowfall in the middle of spring was abnormal, and in the worst case scenario, absurd. Of course, Ozpin is no stranger to snow and ice, the thought of a heavy snowfall in Vale was out of the question since the weather broadcasts said nothing about any steep drop in temperatures. If this was Atlas, he would not ponder so much, since Atlas receives snow and ice on a daily basis; however, being that this snow was in Vale, this was an alarming situation.

Most of the trees out in the Emerald Forest in the distance were riddled with snow despite the fact that they were deciduous trees, not pine trees; however, what caught his attention to some extent was the partially telltale sight of what appeared to be a man-made strip of land in the distance of the forest. It was rather tricky to distinguish the strip of land in the distance due to the snow and the height of the trees, and in addition to the distance, it was also impossible to tell what was inside the strip of land that cut through the Emerald Forest like a snake cutting its way through grass. Not surprisingly, Ozpin's attention was fixated upon such a sight in the distance; however, his attention was immediately drawn away by the sound of the elevator bell dinging behind him.

The elevator door opened and allowing for Professor Goodwitch to enter inside the office. Similar to Ozpin, Goodwitch was wearing a trench coat that matched with her mostly black attire; however, unlike Ozpin (where his trench coat was single breasted), Goodwitch's trench coat was of a medium length and was double breasted. In addition, like Ozpin, Goodwitch had a mug of coffee and a coaster as well, and judging by her disciplined and serious composure, she had matters that were important in regards to the sudden snowfall.

"A sudden change in weather, I suppose?" Ozpin began as he momentarily brought his attention towards Professor Goodwitch.

"Very." Goodwitch sternly replied as she took a sip of her coffee, "Though I wouldn't say this is a first."

"Hmm." Ozpin muttered to himself quietly as he took another sip of his coffee before covering it with the coaster.

"To start off...," Goodwitch started upon clearing her throat and setting her coffee and coaster on the desk, "The maintenance crews are in their best attempts to bring the heaters online in order to combat the sudden drop in temperature. Unfortunately, with the conditions outside, they'll be unable to restore any of the surveillance equipment out in the forest."

As Goodwitch spoke, Ozpin had brought the scroll on his desk to life with the touch of his right index finger and made his attempt to bring up any camera footage. Unfortunately, as Goodwitch pointed out, the first dozen camera footages were offline and merely nothing more but displays of static and colour distortion due to the formation of ice and snow over the cameras and the wiring as well. In reaction to this setback, Ozpin could only mutter his reply out loud, "I see."

"My deepest apologise, Professor." Goodwitch added before she took a sip of her coffee.

"No, no, there's nothing to worry about." Ozpin calmly yet sternly assured while straightening his glasses, "That was much to expect with this kind of weather, and I'm sure that maintenance can resolve this issue soon. Now, what else have you found out?"

"According to Professor Oobleck, there had been multiple signs of seismic activity in the past five to six hours; however, I highly doubt the Grimm or White Fang are responsible for this." Goodwitch continued as she placed her coffee and coast on the desk, "I've already notified team RWBY and JNPR to meet in your office by nine o'clock to be debrief upon the situation and proceed with an investigation. And with that much time, I suppose they will have plenty of time to prepare themselves."

"Excellent." Ozpin said as went for another sip of his coffee; however, he was rather suddenly cut off by the sound of a briefly gargled voice on his scroll, which caused Ozpin to refrain himself from spitting out his coffee in surprise and set his coffee down on the desk. He looked through the scroll on his desk and saw that one of the camera footages have been restored; however, he was further surprise to see that whoever brought the camera back online was not a maintenance crew. Instead, the footage showed a man dressed in a slate grey trench coat and black jackboots, and a curious helmet with a spike on top (which was covered in what appeared to be canvas or leather).

The strange man looked as if he was either fixing or tampering with the camera, and judging by the snow down below on the ground, he was elevated up on a tree. In addition, what made Ozpin suddenly curious about the man in the footage was the fact that there was a trench in the distance just to the right of the man that continued both to the left and right. Then, Ozpin couldn't help but take curious note of a voice being heard off camera, "Heinkel, was ist das da oben?"

"Es sieht so aus, äh..." The man directly on the footage replied back upon looking down, "Ich weiß nicht...aber es sieht aus wie eine Fotokamera mit Drähten drin."

Ozpin could have sworn he heard the man in the footage say Weiss's name; however, his curiosity was followed by Goodwitch, whom she happened to peer and take a look at the curiously restored footage upon one of the cameras. Although Ozpin may have noticed already, Goodwitch took some disgusted not of the mud, grim, and snow upon the man's outfit in the footage that she and Ozpin were looking at. Though what really got Goodwitch's attention, similar to Ozpin, was the speech in which both the man and his accomplices were speaking in.

"Eine Photokamera? Was könnte das auf einem Baum tun?" The second man out of the footage asked back with his voice tone appropriate to someone who is baffled.

"Frag mich nicht, ich bin kein Feld-Ingenieur." The man directly in the footage sneered back before he decided to clamber down from the tree and give the camera a clear view of what the man was blocking, "Außerdem, auch wenn ich es entfernen kann, ist es zu gefroren, um überhaupt zu arbeiten."

Goodwitch and Ozpin were given a good view of what was now a long continuous trench in the background of the footage, and if that was not enough, there were people walking about in or outside of those trenches as well; however, not all of them were dressed in the same clothing like the man seen in the footage just moments ago. Though if there was one thing that all the people in the footage shared in common, almost everybody seen moving about in the background were wearing trench coats (whether it be long or short). Particularly, Ozpin and Goodwitch saw three men in long trench coats near the left in the background talking to one another; however, what was interesting to note about these three curious men was the fact that one to the right was wearing a garrison cap, the one in the centre wore a red and black kepi, and the one to the left was wearing a slate grey and red peak cap.

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 **At the same time** **,** **No Man's Land**

"With all due respect gentlemen, we're in the middle of nowhere other than No Man's Land, and there are actually regrown trees all around us." Lieutenant Gordon spat out, with his voice coated by his heavy Scottish accent, "It's kind of hard to believe that we're all in a dream."

"It's a suggestion, but I find it hard for myself to believe that trees can grow back in one day." Lieutenant Audebert said back, with his heavy French accent evident as he spoke English.

Lieutenant Horstmayer only chuckled before he spoke up his mind, with his voice shrouded in his heavy German accent, "Obviously. Now, I don't know if we're all hallucinating or not, but if we really want to find out what's in that forest, we might as well send five soldiers from our trenches and find out where we are."

"I'm sorry, but five soldiers? From each of our trenches?" Lieutenant Gordon questioned as if he misheard Horstmayer.

"Ja. ( _Yes._ )" Horstmayer confirmed before he further explained his idea, "We can send a team of five soldiers from our trenches to go and scout out the forests, and if we can find any familiar places we know around here, then we'll know that one thing for sure."

"And that is?" Gordon urged.

Horstmayer looked back at his soldiers; whom were standing or peering their heads out of the trenches as they watched him and the two other commanders talking to each other. He knew that whatever he was going to say, that it was not going to be taken seriously; however, it was morbid at the same time, in which he saw mother nature suddenly going stupid on humanity all of sudden. Nevertheless, Horstmayer turned back to Audebert and Gordon before finishing his statement, "The earth is taking action to stop us."

"Excuse me?" Gordon frowned in confusion to Horstmayer's answer, "Did I hear that right?"

"I'm afraid you did." Audebert confirmed in his heavily accented French voice, instead of Horstmayer.

Momentarily, an awkward silence fell upon not only the three commanders, but the opposing trenches as well; however, a shout from one of the Scottish Fusiliers broke the silence, "Ay! What happened to the moon?!"

All three commanders turned their heads towards the Scottish trenches to find that a group of Scottish Fusiliers had gathered around a single Scottish soldier looking in a pair of binoculars. Almost collectively, all three commanders rushed over to the Scottish trenches, with Lieutenant Gordon in the lead and the first to arrive on the scene. Subsequently, Gordon reached the group of Scottish Fusiliers and gave out his first question on hand, "What's goin' on here?"

The young Scottish soldier holding the binoculars in his face replied back with a fear stricken yet serious voice tone, "Sir, the moon…"

Lieutenant Gordon broke his way through the group of Scottish Fusiliers looking up into the snowy sky before being offered the binoculars; only to be introduced to a morbid sight. Up in the sky, despite the morning light and atmosphere, there was the moon up in the sky that was mostly cloaked by the mostly white and blue sky up above; however, what really drained almost all the colour out of Lieutenant Gordon was the fact that the right side of the moon was in pieces. Never in his life had he seen half of the moon to be shattered into multiple pieces like a half-broken walnut, and if that was not worst enough, Gordon could only lower the binoculars from his face with such a sluggish speed stricken by nothing but fear before following it up with an inaudible mutter, "Jesus bloody Christ."

"What's with the moon?" Audebert asked with his heavy French accent, whom he and Horstmayer were confused to what Gordon and the Scottish Fusiliers were looking at first.

Momentarily, to no one's surprise, Audebert and Horstmayer looked up at the moon, only for their faces to be stricken with awe and fear from the extraordinary sight of a shattered moon. Although all three commanders, and their corresponding soldiers had been through hell throughout the remaining half of 1914, no man or woman should ever have to look at the moon to find the other half in fragments while the other is completely intact. Even if the war had only lasted for the remaining half of the year 1914, and even with the Christmas truce still intact by all sides, all sides had to wonder whether or not this was their punishment for fraternising with each other in what can only be described as a war to end all wars.

Of course the Allies and the Central Powers were wanting to do nothing more but defeat one another over the domination of Europe, neither side had the desire or the wish to bring harm upon the beautiful white moon. Whether it be the Germans, French, or Scottish, all sides could only stare up towards the moon in a silence of utter shock and disbelief in what kind of destruction that brought upon not only themselves, but the world as well. Fortunately, the seemingly eternal moment of a fear stricken silence was eventually broken by Lieutenant Gordon getting himself together and making only one statement with a partially sadden and scared facial expression, "Gentlemen…, what have we done?"

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 **Author's Note** **(** **s** **):** Hello ladies and gentlemen, this is Ausslaugand and I would to say that it has been a great while since I had uploaded or updated any stories. Aside from this, with Halloween coming to end, I thought I would bring this RWBY fanfiction story together as somewhat of an early warning for the upcoming Christmas later into the year, and as well as the New Year as well. In addition, I am more than happy to hear any of your thoughts, compliments, critique, and expertise in case I had missed some important details or I need improvement upon certain areas of this story. Otherwise, I hope you all enjoy this story and I will be making any possible attempts to keep my other stories as well as this story updated as much as I can. Oh and before I forget, I don't know about any of you, but I have the incredible feels from watching the first two episodes of RWBY Volume 04. Seriously though, Volume 04 Episode 02 has gotten me so hard since Volume 03 Episode 12, and I am wanting to know what else is going to happen in Volume 04 and hopefully something good happens; hopefully, let's all pray for the best, and until then, stay tune for the next chapter and I will see you all until next time.


	2. Chapter 02

**RWBY** **: Dans le Nid d'Aigle**

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 **Chapter 02** **-** **Restez Calme et Garder l'Espoir pour le Mieux**

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 **8:02am ( nearly two hours later)**

 **Beacon Academy** **,** **Dining Hall**

Weiss did not know if she should be disgusted at the chefs or just the food itself. Looking at her bowl of vegetable soup after taking her fourth spoonful, the vegetable soup was quite a surprise as a breakfast item; however, despite the bland texture of the vegetable soup, Weiss had to partially admit to herself that having soup was better than freezing to death out in the middle of nowhere or being forced to stay in the confinements of her bedcovers back in team RWBY's dormitory. Therefore, looking at the rest of team RWBY around her, along with team JNPR as well, just about everyone was served hot soup or oatmeal to combat against the intrusive snow and ice outside.

Speaking of combating cold temperatures, Weiss was clothed in her Snowpea outfit; however, because of the thick snow outside, Weiss traded in her high-heel boots for a pair of knee-high jackboots and white pants, and along with a white fur ushanka (which Weiss had to fix her hair up in a low braided ponytail in order to compensate for the hat). Fortunately, Weiss was rather reluctant to take off her ushanka while indoors and set it on her lap, since quite frankly, Weiss was not entirely comfortable wearing the ushanka on her head when the back of her ushanka is slightly bulging or compressing against the top of her modified ponytail. Even so, as she took a glance to her left towards Blake, Yang, and Ruby, she could only be grateful to the attire she had on.

Being from Atlas, Weiss had clothing and footwear that can cope with the harsh and frigid Atlesian ice and snow; however, the rest of team RWBY were mostly wearing clothing that was appropriate for rainfall, and none of them were as apparent to this kind of attire than Yang. If Weiss did not have to refrain herself, she could have already slam her hands into her own face and keep it covered in a reasonable state of shock. Yang was simply wearing a yellow sweatshirt over her alternative outfit (aka, hunter outfit), and had her default brown leather knee-high boots that were usually found on her default outfit.

Ruby was at least better off than her older sister, in which she was wearing a dark red coloured cotton padded vest and black sleeveless gloves over her default outfit. Lastly, Blake was similar to being properly clothed like Weiss, in which she modified her Intruder outfit by wearing knee-high flat heeled jackboots and a short double-breasted trench coat like on Weiss's Snowpea outfit; however, because of Blake's ears and the subsequent bow on her head, Blake's Intruder outfit had no hood or hat to put over her head. Though if half of team RWBY was bad enough, Weiss looked back at team JNPR on the other side of the dining table and with some further relief (other than seeing Blake and Ruby's modified outfits).

Thankfully, as Weiss looked at Jaune, she could not help but notice that under Jaune's armour that he was wearing an orange sweater vest over his black hoodie. Unfortunately, since there was no fur lining or cotton padding anywhere on Jaune's outfit, Weiss had to refrain herself as she can only wonder what might happen to him if he does not realise sooner or later that he was rather inadequately clothed for the snow outside; however, he did have white scarf on his neck and a black baseball cap on his head (but even that is not inadequate for a harsh Atlesian winter). Though in comparison to the rest of team JNPR, Jaune was frankly the least prepared team member.

In contrast, when looking over at Pyrrha sitting to Jaune's right, Pyrrha was wearing a white single-breasted coat (whom Pyrrha kindly borrowed from Weiss), which actually went over her usual outfit; however, quite unusually, Pyrrha had been wearing an extra pair of Jaune's jeans (which too went over her leg armour and boots as well). Secured by nothing but a spare black d-ring belt, the jeans replaced Pyrrha's skirt, but her red sashed remained tied around her waist in place of where she wore her skirt, and for the first time that Weiss saw Pyrrha's footwear, Pyrrha had pulled up the rest of her boots to keep out the cold and prevent any water from leaking in. Lastly, knowing that her bronze gorget would make her neck cold, Pyrrha was wearing a spare red scarf that she borrowed from Ruby when the rest of team JNPR asked for any winter attire, and if not least, Pyrrha tucked in the lower half of the jeans into her boot.

Weiss looked over towards Ren and Nora to find that they hat their ushankas on their laps (like Weiss); however, quite surprisingly, Ren was not wearing much else other than his ordinary outfit along with a pair of green sleeveless gloves on his hands. Nora was wearing a pair of white sleeveless gloves too, but unlike her partner, Nora was wearing a pink jacket over her white sleeveless top, and in place of her pink skirt, Nora was wearing an extra pair of Ren's light-tanned pants in order to keep her legs warm and protected them against the cold. Lastly, similar to Pyrrha, Nora had pulled up the rest of her shoes to protect her feet and ankles from the cold as well, and tucked in the lower half of the spare pair of Ren's pants she was wearing into her shoes.

Although looking over the details of both team RWBY and JNPR's clothing of choice could have been miscellaneous, Weiss only cared to look over everyone's improvised winter attire in comparison to her own winter attire out of curiosity. Of course, one may only have to simply use their aura to protect them against the most extreme cold or heat; however, because the sudden temperature drop caught everyone by surprise, and by the fact that one can only use their aura until it depletes, students and staff alike had to make do with the surprise attack of what looked like a windless morning snowsquall. Weiss could have had the choice to cross her arms and looked at everyone around her in utter shock and disappointment as to how they can be so unprepared for winter, but considering that it was the spring season, this was an exception that she had to acknowledge and otherwise refrain herself.

"Welp, so much for a nice day for a picnic." Yang groaned in a passive aggressive attitude; however, her voice was at least half light-hearted.

"Well, look on the bright side…," Ruby assured after taking another spoonful of her oatmeal, "It's a great day for a snowball fight."

"I had the same idea too!" Nora exclaimed towards Ruby out of excitement, "Isn't that coincidence?"

"I think most people had the same idea as well." Ren calmly yet sternly added, which seemed to partially counter his partner's exclamation.

"Ah, fiddlesticks…that's true." Nora sighed out of instant yet playful defeat.

"Well…" Jaune suggested as he was slowly consuming through what looked like half of his vegetable soup, "I don't think everyone thought of that idea first, considering that this is…well…quite a surprise."

"You know what's also a surprise is receiving instructions to meet in Ozpin's office by nine o'clock." Blake uttered as she had most of her face buried in her book.

"Oh come on, Blakey." Yang pouted out in partial joking manner, "It's only eight oh five, and besides, it's not like we have classes today with this kind of weather."

At this point, it was time that Weiss jump in and speak up her mind towards the situation, "If I may mention, but have you considered putting on something more…formal?"

Yang, whom apparently understood Weiss's annoyed speech, took a look at her own clothing and only felt somewhat bothered by Weiss's reminder (whom which this was not the first). Apparently, earlier this morning, Weiss had been verbally pestering Yang multiple times about her clothing of choice against the cold weather, but no matter how many times that Weiss told her, Yang seem to quite literally brush off the problem. Though what Weiss got from Yang was almost like receiving a metaphorical blunt club to the face.

"I am going to say this once and I will not repeat myself again, Ice Queen. What's wrong with the clothes I have on?"

Weiss crossed her arms and replied back annoyed yet honestly about Yang's attire of choice, "Well for your information, they're just you know…out of season and out of fashion."

"Oh please…" Yang retorted; however, she immediately countered Weiss's complaint, "Look Vomit Boy across from us, he doesn't look very comfortable in his outfit."

"Um…, I'm uh…" Jaune hesitated as he let his spoon rest outside of his soup bowl, "I'm actually roasting in bit under the armour and hoodie if you don't mind."

"I would say the same thing for me." Pyrrha added as well, "As a matter of fact, my legs are actually burning."

"Well, that's the point." Weiss agreed to Jaune and Pyrrha's statements, "It's cold and we all need as much warmth as we can. It's better to roast inside your clothing than have nothing at all."

"You got to agree." Blake said as she poked her head slight out of her book and letting her eyes peering on the top of the book, "Being that Weiss is from Atlas and knows very well how to survive a gruelling winter."

"See, there you go." Weiss congratulated with partial sarcasm in her voice, which was directed towards Yang.

"Sis, the point is that you got to put something else on." Ruby said to Yang in simpler words, "Either that or you'll freeze into over into an icicle."

Yang could only grumble as she inspected the sweatshirt on her and eventually spoke her mind, "I do have to admit that this sweatshirt is a little big on me."

Weiss kept her arms crossed and only turn her head away in disappointment before nodding her head with an upset thought in her head, _"I told you."_

 ** _=====][=====_**

 **9:08am** **–** **Scene Change**

 **Beacon Academy** **,** **Ozpin's Office**

Weiss found herself with her arms crossed and nodding her head in disappointment as back in the dining hall. With her ushanka on her head, the chances of a headache were increased by a slight margin, and it did not help that she had to hear Blake and Ruby describe what happened after they left the dining hall for some final adjustments. Worst of all, despite team JNPR standing alongside team RWBY and only witness the story transpire, team JNPR held a worried presence that only seem to make the situation further embarrassing; however, because it was only Ozpin and Glynda in the office, there was not that many people to insult.

"I see." Ozpin uttered as he and Glynda continued to inspect all eight students that made up team RWBY and JNPR. As headmaster, it was one of Ozpin's responsibilities to have his students properly clothed according to the seasons; however, because the temperature and weather dropped so suddenly, he had little time to make adjustments for his students. Although he had the solutions and advice to suggest towards his students, he was somewhat surprised on the inside when it came to team RWBY's attempt to best cloth themselves for the cold.

Specifically, Ozpin and Glynda were looking straight at Yang, and they inspected every inch of Yang's attire of choice; which consisted of grey cargo pants secured by a leather belt (with the lower half tucked into her brown leather knee-high boots), an orange short-sleeved shirt (with the bottom tucked into her pants) which was covered by a dark khaki single-breasted coat (along with the sleeves partially rolled up to make way for Yang's weapon, Ember Celica, on her wrists), and the orange scarf that she commonly wears on her default outfit. At first, Ozpin and Glynda nearly considered Jaune to be the least prepared for the snow; however, when looking at Yang, both Ozpin and Glynda collectively reconsidered their minds with only a nod to each other. Subsequently, after a moment of silence among the inspections, Ozpin finally spoke up his mind after adjusting his glasses.

"Well, Team Ruby, and Team Juniper, I am glad to see that you all made your attempts at dressing yourselves properly for this sudden snowfall; however, if I am completely honest, I am a bit disappointed with some of you. Otherwise, I would like to brief you all upon the situation."

As he said the last part of his statement, he had typed in a code on the keyboard of his desk scroll without turning his back and allowing for a holographic screen to pull up behind Ozpin. The bright yet transparent projection of the screen was the size of an oversized square-shaped pinboard, and the screen displayed a map of the Emerald Forest with gridlines separating the map into 256 sections. Although the map appeared to be digitally created on the scroll; however, upon a more careful gaze at the screen, it turned out that the map was a perfect screenshot token by a camera, processed, and uploaded onto the scroll.

According to the details seen on the map, there was a pair of thick red squiggly parallel lines that ran almost diagonally down the centre of the forest as if a pair of snakes had just left behind a synchronised blood trail; however, it was in the centre of those parallel lines that there were blue straight lines that seem to indicate something that Ozpin quickly pointed out, "Just well over five to six hours before dawn, there had been multiple spots of seismic activity, which corresponds to this area on the map along here."

Ozpin then used his cane to pointed towards the red and blue strip cutting through the centre of the map before continuing his briefing, "According to Oobleck's reports earlier this morning, this area of Emerald Forest, called No Man's Land, has been reduced to an empty strip of land like a borderline. Unfortunately, being that there was a heavy fog before dawn, Oobleck could not resume his investigation any further, and thereby leaving us with only the name and location. To make matters worse, nearly all the surveillance equipment in the forest have been knocked out of action, which thereby leaves us unable to track your whereabouts in the forest until further notice. Fortunately, according to the readings on some of our last operational motion sensors, Grimm activity has shown an unusual decline, but be prepared for ambushes in case the readings are to be false."

In response, Yang appeared to brief smirk as the possibility for some action brewed; however, it was Glynda that then continued the briefing, "Now, we would normally assign you all with your objectives and have you dismissed after answering some questions; however, with the conditions outside, you will all have to travel on foot for this mission, since every Bullhead is out of action. Therefore, you will all be meeting up at the Beacon Cliffs once this briefing is over. Think of this as a second initiation if you know what I mean."

Ozpin had set his cane leaning on his desk before he made a brief sip from his coffee mug just moments before Glynda finished, and giving him the perfect time to conclude the meeting with Glynda giving a nod, "Thank you, Glynda. Once you have made your landing and regrouped with your corresponding teams, you will follow an assigned set of given coordinates on your scrolls; which will direct you towards two separate areas of No Man's Land. From there, once you have arrived at your destinations, you are to proceed with your own investigations and find anything else that within No Man's Land before making your return. Now as Glynda said, you be will not have any aerial support for this mission; thereby you must make your return back on foot once you have completed your investigation. Now, Team Ruby, you are assigned to investigate the northeast, and Team Juniper, you are assigned to investigate the south. Are there any questions?"

Weiss immediately rose her right hand, which was responded with Ozpin giving a nod, "Go ahead, Weiss."

"If we find anyone within No Man's Land other than Grimm, are we restricted to nonlethal force or is it freefire?" Weiss proposed, which brought some curious looks from team RWBY and JNPR.

"In case you meet any resistance within No Man's Land other than Grimm, you are not to engage the enemy unless they have struck you first." Glynda replied sternly, "I will say this one more time, you are not to engage enemy unless they have struck you first. Plus, even if you do engage the enemy, you are to inflict the least injuries as possible to the enemy. Anyone that is found within No Man's Land are to be brought back to Beacon Academy, and yes, you are to escort said individuals on foot."

"Oh…," Yang cringed a bit to Glynda's stern reply, "Ouch."

"Those are the rules of engagement for this mission." Glynda barked back in a calm yet stern voice tone again, "Are there any further questions?"

Both Ozpin and Glynda took a couple more looks at both team RWBY and JNPR to find no further hands being raised. After a moment of silence, Ozpin finally dismissed both teams, "Very well then. You are all requested to meet up at the Beacon Cliffs to begin your mission."

Both team RWBY and JNPR agreed in silence before they all headed for the elevators behind them. Ozpin and Glynda watched their students leave the office in silence, and just a little bit after the elevators closed and began their descent, Ozpin took another sip from his coffee mug and disabling the holographic projection from his desk scroll. He kept his stoic yet calm and assuring facial expression as he then nodded his head slightly in disagreement before Glynda spoke up in correspondence of Ozpin's nodding, "I don't care what Yang might be saying about her outfit, she is going to freeze herself to death if she decides to ditch that coat for something else."

"Hmm." Ozpin agreed as he briefly took a look from his office windows again behind his desk, "Normally I wouldn't be the judge of this; however, consider the fact that I am also a bit disappointed with Ren's efforts as well."

"That may be true." Glynda stated, "But at least that boy is able to keep his head and hands warm in comparison."

"Though if I am but completely honest, Glynda." Ozpin proposed as he took the scroll on his desk and placed in the right pocket of his trench coat, "Ren, and Jaune as well, have a fatal flaw in their outfits that only now that we fail to notice."

"Sir?" Glynda questioned with a slightly suspicious yet reasonable facial expression.

"If I was entirely blind, I wouldn't have noticed. But if you come to think of it, how often do you look a person's shoes?" Ozpin said.

Glynda was about to speak until she stopped for a minute. Ozpin stood and waited for Glynda to make her response; however, her eyes metaphorically dilated when she looked back at Ozpin. To Glynda's shock and horror, as well as Ozpin's curiosity, both Ozpin and Glynda had realised that Ren and Jaune have not entirely changed their default footwear to accommodate for the cold.

 ** _=====][=====_**

 **9:40am**

 **Meanwhile** **,** **Emerald Forest**

Scottish Fusilier Private Jonathan Dale carried a long and cold yet quiet scowl on his face as he trudged through the snow with his Scottish 5-team scouting group. He was by far in no means of agreement to work alongside the Germans, but with the French and his fellow Scotsmen joining in to form a 15-manned scouting party into the unknown forest, Private Dale had to go along with it. If it was up to him, he would've disappeared from the group, hide, and then kill off all five Germans from a distance as if a serial killer was on the loose; however, being that his fellow comrades and the other groups were on strict orders to stay together as instructed by their corresponding commanders, Private Dale did not wish to be on the receiving end of Lieutenant Gordon's anger for disobeying orders.

In addition, it did not help with the fact that in case one were to go missing from the entire scouting party or any of the scouting groups, everyone was to stay put and form a defensive perimeter until the missing person is found alive or dead. Plus, as relayed from their commanders, every soldier in their scouting groups and the scouting party all together were further instructed to fall back to the trenches in case one of their own soldiers were missing, or found dead or severely wounded out in the field. Private Dale had to admit, despite his brother's death on the day of Christmas Eve by the hands of the Germans, and looking back upon the strict orders given out by Lieutenant Gordon, Audebert, and Horstmayer all together, he soon refrained the idea of wanting to split up from the scouting party; however, all of this did not help to remove the quiet scowl on his face.

Of course, the Germans killed his brother, William, and Dale was going to find the right chance to kill every single German in order to avenge his brother, but looking around him for what appeared to be the forty-fifth time since the departure from the German trenches, Dale could only be taunted from a distance by the nonchalant and orderly movement of the Germans. Simply or not, Dale was sick by the way the Germans were going about the cooperative reconnaissance mission as if nothing happened in the past coupled days, and to make matters worse, the Germans were chattering to one another as if it was a casual stroll in the park. Even if the French were doing the same as well (as to his left), Dale felt nothing worthy or helpful to further relieve his pain over the loss of his brother; however, he was not entirely bitter as he pondered upon the events on Christmas Day (which was yesterday).

Dale had to admit that at least the Germans had some respect to help bury not only the dead of their fellow Germans as well, but also the fallen French and Scottish soldiers as well on the morning of Christmas Day. At least on that morning on the Christmas Day of the year 1914, Dale was able to say goodbye to his brother for one last time before having to bury him in a marked grave along with the other dead Scottish Fusiliers, French, and German soldiers as well. Unfortunately, Dale was still stricken by the hatred and disgust for how the Germans can be so nonchalant about such death towards not only his brother, but also his fellow Scotsmen as well.

"Keep up, lads." The voice of the Scottish scouting groups leader, Corporal Mark Ferguson, said out loud, "There's no point in making progress if we have to stop every minute for your lazy arses."

Mark Ferguson was dressed like any other Scottish Fusilier; however, he was notably mature as evident by the slightest wrinkles on his face and his moderate Scottish accent. Dale and every Scottish Fusilier knew for fact that Ferguson was actually younger than he looked, due to the fact that he was 29-years old. Although the enemy or any passing everyman may mistake Ferguson for a middle-aged man who looked like he had been working the dry-docks in Glasgow, but if one were to hear his voice correctly and see where the wrinkles formed on his face, he was just a man in his late-20s with hazel brown coloured eyes, hair and facial hair (which was little more than a light moustache and beard all together).

"With all due respect, we haven't seen much other than frozen streams and ponds." One of the Scottish Fusiliers complained, which came from Dale's anterior right.

"Ah the hell with streams and ponds." Ferguson barked back with some offense expressed in his voice, "We're only an hour and a half in the expedition, and it's true we haven't seen much, but you all just wait. One of us is going to find something extraordinary whether we like or not."

"Like another rock, for example." A second Scottish Fusilier joking complaint, which caused most the other Scotsmen (except Dale and Ferguson) to chuckle all together.

"Hmm…" Ferguson grumbled increasing offended, "If it was up to me being your true commanding officer, I would certainly have you all silenced; but since all of us are of the same rank, let's not get carried away."

"Well, that's funny." The first Scottish Fusilier from earlier retorted in a joking manner, "I would probably say the same if I was…"

Suddenly, the sound of a girl's voice shrieked through the air right above the scouting party's heads and well over the snowy forest canopy, "NO, BIRDY! NOT AGAIN!"

The girl's voice shrieked just moments after the sound of a black bird's skeleton and feathers crunched into an explosion of fine black coloured powder. Every soldier, whether it be German, French, or Scottish, immediately looked up too late to find the source of the girl's voice as it faded into the wind well above the forest canopy. If Dale did not know any better, he may have just been daydreaming and simply seeing or hearing things that are not there; however, when he saw all five Germans, French, and the four other Scottish Fusiliers looking up into the sky, such an action was out of the question.

If everyone was seeing what Dale saw, there was no doubt that his fellow Scotsmen spoke too soon; however, what further surprise everyone was the sound of multiple distant explosions booming up above in the air. Not surprisingly, Ferguson shouted out loud to all three scouting groups with two chilling commands, "Artillery! Take cover!"

At the same time, the French and Germans broke their groups apart as well to avoid the possibly incoming artillery shells as indicated from the distant explosions; however, what everyone had mind of spreading out was not entirely what it seemed. Of course all three scouting groups broke apart, the only thing that would have contradicted this was the fact that all three groups remained close to each other as they all fell prone onto the ground to avoid any incoming shrapnel from the impending doom. Fortunately, just seconds after everyone fell to the ground in terror of an unknown artillery attack, the mid-air explosions seem to fade as quickly as they had appeared.

On the other hand, the entire scouting party remained entirely on the ground like corpses for a long moment of silence; however, it was Dale who dared to lift his head up from the snow and take a look around him. For some reason, it was like déjà vu all over again back in No Man's Land, but at least he was greeted with the sight of snow covered trees and bushes as opposed to the battlefields stricken by barbed wire and artillery craters. Still, seeing himself in this position reminded of him crawling to his brother and making his futile attempt to save him; only to watch him die slowly and fruitlessly.

Luckily, as Dale looked around him, it turned out some of the Germans and French had the same idea as to what Dale was doing as the moment of silence gradually settled in to comfortable level. One by one, as Dale got himself off the ground and onto his feet, every soldier from all three scouting groups arose from the snow and let out sighs of relief and/or comments of gratefulness or luck. From the humbling chatter of the French, to the Germans dusting themselves off and putting their Pickelhaube helmets back onto their heads, Dale and his fellow Scotsmen were fortunate as well to escape what could have been death by unknown artillery fire.

"Jesus…" Ferguson groaned after making a weak chuckle, which caught Dale's attention to turn around towards his fellow comrades getting themselves together, "It's as if it didn't get any better, lads. Does that answer your question?"

Not a single person said a word, which immediately gave Ferguson a change of heart in his voice tone, "Ah the hell with it. Is everyone alright?"

"We're all good." The first Scottish soldier said as he helped one of his comrades get up from the snow.

"Ist jemand verletzt? _(Is anyone hurt?)_ " One of the Germans shouted, which went in the direction of not only the Germans, but also the French and the Scottish as well.

The French nor the Scottish had any idea of what the German asked, but given by how the other Germans replied back, it was only fair and coherent to give the thumbs up to each other. Despite the language barrier, the scouting party managed to get themselves together and already proceeded with a headcount along with an equipment check as well. Though there was nothing out of place for all three scouting groups, the Scottish, French, and Germans knew that they had to be more careful when it comes to spreading out, since some of the soldiers were merely in arm's length of each other.

"Alright lads, that was a close one." Ferguson congratulated to everyone, "We can't take any more chances out here, and as much as we seen such strange things other than that girl screaming above us, I'm not sure what else we can do."

"So…," One of the Scottish soldiers spoke up, "What do we do?"

Ferguson took a glance at the French and German groups before walking over towards them. Subsequently, the group leaders of the French and Germans gathered together and stayed within range of their corresponding soldiers. Though before Ferguson or any of the other group leaders could utter out a single word, Dale felt a chill up his spine as he heard a faint and distant voice somewhere out in the forest, "Help…"

If Dale was any deafer than he was from going through such hell in the trenches, he probably would not have heard such a voice or brush to the side as if he was hearing things that no one else heard of; however, the voice tone and distress within such a faint sound was all but too dearly to ignore. Though the weak and distant voice was not enough to drain the colours away from Dale's face, the voice was enough to slowly form a worrisome facial expression on Dale's face. Gradually, Dale's cold and quiet scowl immediately formed into worry, which did not go unnoticed by everyone else around him.

"Dale?" One of the voice of the Scottish Fusiliers said as he saw Dale's worrisome facial expression form on his face, "What are you…?"

Again, the voice rang out in the far distance of the snowy forest, which only this time it not only got Dale's attention again, it also got the attention of the Germans and the French as well, "Is anyone out there…?"

Just like Dale, just about everyone began to carry a collective weight of worry when they heard the faint distress of such a voice, and if Dale thought he was becoming a worrywart, then he was nothing in contrast to the Germans and French. The Germans and the French appeared as if they had been awoken by gunfire as they stood tall, straight, and lively to track the source of the voice. Though if there one thing that everyone noted about the voice, then it was the fact that the voice was masculine.

"Christ…" Ferguson cursed under his breath, with his voice a cocktail of fear, curiosity, and worry, before he rose his voice up to everyone, "Does anyone hear that?"

"Ouais. ( _Yeah._ )" The leader of the French scouting group uttered back in French, with his voice in a similar state like Ferguson, "Ce son hantant... ( _That haunting sound..._ )"

Although Ferguson knew very little French, he could tell that the leading French soldier in his group agreed with him; however, before Ferguson and the other two group leaders could take action, Dale immediately dashed into the forest towards the voice after taking slight right turn.

"Hey, komm zurück! ( _Hey, come back!_ )" The leader of the German scouting group shouted towards Dale, with his native German speech proving no use to stopping the young Scottish Fusilier, "Wir haben…! ( _We got to…!_ )"

Ferguson can only nod his head in shame for Dale as the leading German soldier growled under his breath, "Flüche… (Curses…)"

Without a word, Ferguson took chase after Dale and leaving the other Scottish Fusiliers, the French, and the Germans behind. Fortunately, just as it seemed the French and Germans looked at each other along with the now leaderless group of Scottish soldiers, one by one, everyone began to run after Dale and Ferguson in the forest. All sides knew very well that they were disobeying direct orders from their respectable commanding officers back in the trenches; however, when they all hear a faint voice in distress somewhere out in the forest, it was only fair that all sides would be obligated to help out if not make their attempt in getting one of their fellow comrades back to the herd and staying together.

 ** _=====][=====_**

 **Author's Note** **(** **s** **):** Hello and Welcome back ladies and gentlemen for Chapter Two of this story. If am completely honest about this chapter, I am a partially disappointed with myself for putting too much description into this chapter, but so far, I am glad to get this story going. Now before signing off, I would like to point out that this story will be seeing some updates as it progresses, and I am more than pleased to hear any of your thoughts, compliments, critique, and expertise in case I had missed some important details or I need improvement upon certain areas of this story. Remember, I may sound as if I am repeating myself, but don't be afraid to speak up your mind if you find any discrepancies or mistakes in this story. Otherwise, I hope you all enjoy this story and I wish you all to stay tune for the next chapter, and from here on out, I will see you all until next time.


	3. Chapter 03

**RWBY** **: Dans le Nid d'Aigle**

 ** _=====][=====_**

 **Chapter 03** **-** **Aller en Enfer et hors Blessé**

 ** _=====][=====_**

 **9:40am**

 **Moments Earlier** **,** **Team RWBY & JNPR**

The sound of soft snow crumbling and crunching eventually broke through the snow covered trees and foliage to reveal team RWBY and JNPR. So far, as they stepped upon the launch pads, Ozpin and Glynda were nowhere in sight; however, this did not mean that RWBY and JNPR could not just stand around and do nothing. Not surprisingly, both teams admired the view and beauty of the Emerald Forest covered within a thick blanket of snow and ice.

On the other hand, if there was one thing that both teams knew any better, the Emerald Forest had deciduous trees not coniferous trees (also known more commonly as, Pine Trees). Through this curious detail, team RWBY and JNPR took careful note that nearly all of the trees down below had most of the leaves still on their branches despite the fact that there was snow on top of them. Weiss especially reacted somewhat bothered by this strange combination brought about by mother nature.

In spite of the annoyed facial expression on Weiss, she was more than willing to start this mission as soon as possible with such a familiar beginning. Just like the initiation, team RWBY and JNPR were going to be catapulted into the Emerald Forest and then meet with each other once they have landed; however, unlike last time, their mission is already set for them with clear instructions. Though when it comes to starting the mission, Weiss had to honestly feel a little annoyed at Ozpin and Glynda for not being on time…or as it seems.

"Feeling all at home, Ice Queen?" Yang happily joked, whom which she was obvious poking fun at Weiss's nationality.

"Like I care less." Weiss deadpanned swiftly, which caught Yang by surprise. Weiss felt rather insulted by Yang's particular tease about feeling home, since after all, Weiss hated being stuck at home. Of course, Weiss did not mind the snow and ice back in Atlas, it was her father that she feared, and quite honestly, hated the most about being at home.

"Whoa, cool it…" Yang assured as she raised her hands up low to ensure that she did not mean any harm, "I thought you like the snow."

"Are you kidding?" Weiss sneered as she attempted to contain her anger and annoyance all together from boiling over, "Of course I do, but it's just…"

From there, Weiss barely gave a moment to herself after a brief sigh, and it was here that she blew off Yang's assurance, "…never mind."

"I think you hit a personal soft spot rather than creating any humour at all." Blake stated as she had her face almost buried in another book.

"Maybe she's…well…you know." Yang shrugged with a light-hearted attitude in her voice.

At the same time, Weiss crossed her arms and nodded her head to the right and left in a bitter annoyance. She had wonder how someone so light-hearted and laidback can simply shrug something off that was unintentionally personal; however, Weiss had to admit that she was somewhat at fault for not telling Yang the real reason why she became offended. Though if Weiss was having a hard time, she was not alone when it came to the rest of team RWBY and JNPR.

Jaune had been casually yet calmly tapping his shoes on the cold metal surface of the launch pad he was standing on, and it appeared as if he was waiting patiently for Ozpin and Glynda to arrive. Unfortunately, Jaune was only standing around on the launch pad because of his feet were actually cold and the only way to keep them circulated was to tap them on the ground and move slightly to keep himself going. Plus, it did not help to the fact that he was still wearing his sneakers, which was quite frankly unsuitable for the snow and cold that he was in; however, if Jaune thought he was going to be the only one who was going to get frostbite, he was not alone.

Looking to his left (and past Nora who was standing to Pyrrha's left), Ren was in a nearly identical situation, but instead of standing around and tapping his shoes on the launch pad, Ren was jogging in place to keep himself warm and energised against the cold. What's more, after every couple minutes, Ren stopped and stretched to keep both his limbs and body moving, and give himself a break from his stationary jog. Quite frankly, if Jaune did not know any better, he might have thought that Ren should have been doing his warm-ups while indoors.

Suddenly, a digital ding from his scroll quietly escaped from his right pocket, and prompting him to see who could be sending him another notification. To his surprise, when he checked his scroll, it turned out to be a digital timer ticking down minus one minute. In addition, located below the ticking digital timer, there was a text message that read:

" _Attention Team RWBY and JNPR. You have 60 seconds until the launch pads are to go off. It is best that you prepare your landing strategies and begin your mission. I wish you all the best of luck, and along with it, good hunting. Headmaster Ozpin."_

Jaune briefly chuckled to himself, which was audible enough to draw Pyrrha's attention.

"Did something cross your mind?"

Jaune looked to his left to see Pyrrha crossing her arms and giving a weak smile on her face. He knew that he had to warn every one of the notification, but with Pyrrha giving him an unusual smile and looking at him as if she suspected of a weird thought, he was in a surprisingly awkward situation. Luckily, he was not the only messenger that was tasked with spreading the news regarding the start of the mission.

"Welp, it looks like we're going to be starting very soon." Yang announced, which drew Jaune's attention away from Pyrrha for a moment just in time to see Yang putting away her scroll, "Hopefully this doesn't go off on cold start. Am I right?"

" _You had to throw that in?"_ Jaune thought to himself, but he had to admit that Yang did throw in quite a good pun for once…at least when it came to team RWBY.

Ruby expressed a brief yet authentic chuckle to her older sister's pun, while Weiss and Blake seemed to remain unamused and more concerned with preparing their landing strategies.

Jaune found this as the perfect opportunity to confirm Ozpin's message, "Well, we have less than a minute until the launch pads activate."

"Ah no worries…" Nora assured as Jaune turned to his left and looking past Pyrrha, "We already got the message, and…"

Suddenly, Jaune was not paying attention, but Ren's launch pad activated a little sooner than what everyone expected. Ren was launched beyond the cliffs and into the air on his way to land into Emerald Forest; however, just like the last time at the initiation, Ren was already prepared as he flew through the air with grace and his two pistols, StormFlower, at the ready. Unfortunately, the unexpected launch caught everyone, particularly Nora, by surprise.

"Uh…" Jaune muttered unsure of what happened, "Was that supposed to happen? The last time I checked, we had fifty-one seconds."

"I think the launch pads are going off one by one every…five seconds or so?" Pyrrha suggested as she turned her attention back to Jaune.

"Well if that's…" Jaune opposed with hesitation before he looked at his scroll again, "Twenty-eight seconds to go, and Nora's launch pad hasn't launch yet."

Unfortunately, Jaune spoke too soon as Nora's launch pad activated and sending Nora flying into the air; however, barely a few seconds later, Pyrrha's launch pad activated as well. Unlike Nora (whom was giggling as she flew into the air), Pyrrha had actually gasped in surprise, which only made Jaune worried and frightened. He watched her tumble through the air ungracefully for the moment before she began to reorientate herself; however, at the same time, Jaune had gotten himself ready for the launch pad underneath him to activate.

He was in no place to go unprepared like the last time (aka, the initiation), and he was going to attempt to perfect his landing strategy. After weeks of training, as well as loosing so many gallons of sweat and repelling fatigue for Oum knows how long, Jaune was given a second chance to be launched and land into the Emerald Forest with grace. Therefore, Jaune placed himself in a loose yet stern stance as if he was going into a round of boxing, before the launch pad finally propelled him through the air; however, unbeknownst to Jaune, disaster had struck right underneath him.

Jaune flew through the icy air and above the snowy Emerald Forest, this time in a controlled manner of forward flight. He was not tumbling around like a chain-shot, and he felt no fear or the initiative to scream as he saw the trees rush past him below like if he was hanging above a treadmill. Unfortunately, as valiant and graceful he might be when flying through the air, Jaune took notice of something that he wished was left unnoticed.

Just seconds after take-off, and with the cliffs and team RWBY left far behind in such a small timespan, Jaune took a careful look at the rest of his team to find that they were going at a much greater speed than him. From Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha, they were all landing not too far from each other, and they were going at the same speed to ensure that they would land in a radius. For Jaune, he was nowhere in keeping his speed up with the rest of his team, and just as he took notice of that, he found himself at a distance that placed him too far out of reach of his teammates.

Worst of all, as his teammates disappeared far off into the distance and vanishing underneath the snowy tree canopy of Emerald Forest, he looked back directly in front of him to find that he was quickly closing the distance with a thick tall tree below. With no time to change his course trajectory, Jaune brought his shield in front of him (Corcea Mors), and before he knew in barely a few seconds, he slammed through the tree with a rough shudder and a loud explosion of wood, snow, ice, and leaves. Luckily, Jaune kept going despite the tremendous collision with the colossal tree, but with such an impact, he greatly reduced his speed just enough where it felt like he was landing with a parachute.

Unfortunately, as he peered his head slightly over the shield, his heart barely had enough time to sink as he slammed into a second tree with a similar fate; however, it was here that he lost his grip on the shield and tumbled to his left before colliding with a third tree back first. With only the sound of a loud thud and a faint rustling of leaves and falling snow, Jaune bounced off the tree trunk and losing his forward momentum as he eventually fell down below. Even though he did not have his aura up to protect him from the impact, Jaune only uttered a pained grunt from the collision with the third tree before he suddenly felt the wind being knocked off him when he fell on top of a thick and long tree branch.

Struggling to keep himself conscious with little to no air in his lungs, Jaune winced his eyes before he saw his black baseball cap fall off his head and disappear into the snow below. Worst of all, beyond his control and left winded from the obnoxious impact with the tree branch, Jaune slipped backwards and felt the cold air rush past him as his body freefell like a toy ragdoll. Although his breastplate upon his armour protected him from crushing his lungs from the impact, Jaune now only felt the breastplate as a useless deadweight before he felt he a brief yet sharp crackle somewhere in his legs.

Suddenly, as quickly as he heard the crackle, he barely had any time to register the sound when his face and stomach collided into the snow with a loud thud. His pained groan was muffled when he buried his face into the snow and laid prone on the ground in nothing but utter pain throughout his body and right leg. Immediately, his aura kicked into action to heal any injuries; however, only the scratches, bruises, and the smallest lacerations could be healed properly, and thereby leaving Jaune with an incredible amount of pain left.

He swore that his right leg went cold, but with the wind knocked out of him from colliding with the branch, he barely had any energy to perform the simplest of tasks other than breathing, thinking, and keeping his eyes open. Although he was not bleeding, Jaune felt a stinging cold feeling in his right leg, which prompted him to turn on his back and assess the damage. Fortunately, he still had both his legs along with no tears in his jeans or shoes, but the very second he had laid on his back, he felt a sharp pain in his right hip.

Jaune quietly yet obnoxiously cringed in pain as he felt as if his right leg had been pulled and then twisted into multiple knots, and to add insult to injury, he barely had enough time to assess his injuries when he heard a series of wood crackling above him. Bits of snow and leaves rained down on him as he laid back down in pain and barely able to see the thick branch through the foliage he had crashed through. Since he was left winded from his painful collision with the trees and the branch, Jaune laid on the ground merely helpless as he stared at the branch before the sounds of crackling finally triggered the branch to snap and crash down onto Jaune.

With nothing else to do other than shutting his eyes and putting his hands and aura up to shield him, Jaune's efforts to defend himself were only of partial use as the branch fell on top of him along with the branches of the very foliage he had fell through moments ago. Luckily, the thick branch missed his chest and head; however, the smaller branches fell on top of him and tangling him in a mess of leaves and twigs. With his aura, he was able to minimise the impact, but as soon as Jaune slowly peered his eyes open, a shower of snow from trees came raining down on top of him.

When Jaune opened his eyes after a deadly silence, he awoke to a scene that he only wished to forget like a nightmare. With his aura still up, but with his hands slowly being brought down, Jaune saw that he was buried under a thin layer of snow along with branches and twigs nearly up in his face. In addition, with the branches on top of him, he could not see his legs nor the thick branch that now laid right on top of his legs. Worst of all, it was when he finally lowered his aura that he felt the worst pain in his life.

Yelling to the top of his lungs as if someone shot him in his genitals, Jaune shot his arms forward and towards his right hip. Even with the thinner branches and leaves in his way, the immediate force of his arms shooting forward to his hips caused most of those branches to snap; however, some of those branches refuse to break and instead were pushed on top of his upper legs. Nevertheless, his hands clamped onto his right upper leg and hip as if he any open wound from bleeding any further; however, he felt no wetness as he hastily catered to his injuries.

With such pain transferred into his right leg and hip, Jaune had no idea how to describe the severity of his injuries to anyone that might stumble upon him. He had been trained so hard by his friends and professors alike in preparation to become a future huntsman; however, none of that training prepared him to treat any severe internal injuries such as a possibly broken leg and hip. Fortunately, Jaune thought about calling the rest of his team and inform them of his situation…but…

His scroll was nowhere to be found as his hands felt its way around in his pockets. Then, to his worst fears while in immense pain and now in pursuit for frantic help, he heard the sound of vibration and a digital ringtone that was somewhere out in front of him. It was here he realised that his scroll had fell of his pocket when he fell off of the thick tree branch, and with such a loss, Jaune could only cursed with a coarse and pained voice tone, "Dammit!"

He knew somebody or someone of team RWBY or JNPR was calling him, but with his scroll out of reach and on the other side of the thick tree branch (which was on top of his lower legs), Jaune was helpless and deprived of his only means of guaranteeing a quick rescue. Therefore, Jaune could only lay on the ground with a facial expression composed of fear, abandonment, and pain as his scroll rung before it fell silent; however, Jaune was only encouraged by his situation to express his anger. He swiftly sat up and began to push the big and thick branch on top of his lower legs with all the strength he had left in his body, and along with the help of his aura, he was determined to free himself if he could not get any kind of rescue.

Unfortunately, his pushing was both futile and useless as he finally slowed down and let his hands rest on top of the branch. Even if he could use the cold palms of his gloved hands to push the branch off, he knew that there was no way he could push that kind of heavy and thick branch off of him in the condition he was in, and with his possibly broken right leg and hip, he was only going to aggravate the pain if all he did was recklessly and angrily make an attempt to push the branch off. In addition, it did not help with the fact that he was breathing heavily and coarsely both from the pain and anger that was boiling all together within like a hot pot of poorly-made soup.

He knew that there was no way that he could push the log off him alone, and with his scroll and Crocea Mors out of reach, Jaune did the only last thing he could do as he slowly yet surely slowed his breathing and gave his best shout, "Help…"

His shout was weak and raspy as a result of the pain and lukewarm anger that was still cooling down within him. With that kind of voice, hardly anyone could hear him in half a kilometre, and even if he was heard, his voice was barely recognisable. Though with determination valiantly poking at him, Jaune gave another shout, "Is anyone out there?"

With his aura up, most of the overall pain throughout his body was minimised to a bearable magnitude; however, the pain in his right leg and hip were the worst, while the rest of his body (especially his chest) felt as if nothing happened at all. Through this realisation, Jaune kept his aura just to keep the pain under control until either team RWBY stumble upon to him, or he eventually finds a way to free himself. Unfortunately, Jaune also knew that he could only use his aura for so long to hold off such unbearable pain in his body and limbs, and it was only a matter of time that the shock would slowly kill him if he was not to be found within 24 hours.

The cold weather and snow did not help the situation that Jaune was in, since if the shock was not going to kill him eventually, he was also going to die from frostbite. Though his body would be preserved thanks to the cold, Jaune feared of freezing to death if this was how he was going to die as a first year huntsman-in-training. Even if he was going to die a much quicker death at the hands of any lingering Grimm within the snowy Emerald Forest, Jaune feared every method of death that he could think of as he finally laid down on the snow almost as if he was a broken man.

Jaune was certainly that he was not a coward nor a weakling, but to remain strong while buried in snow, leaves, and branches was something different for him. He laid on the snow…now pondering whether or not this was going to be the fate of his destiny to follow the footsteps of his family and become a hero. Though he had seen worse early on in his first year in Beacon, things were different just half a dozen months ago, and they were nowhere in comparison to what could be his slow road to the end of his journey.

"Even after all that, I still end up falling on my head?" Jaune thought so grimly to himself as he laid in the snow in defeat, "Why is this always happening to…"

Suddenly, there was the sound of leaves and branches rustling, and snow crunching in the far distance, which appeared to draw closer and closer to Jaune's direction. He looked behind him in the best way he could and heard the sound of footsteps as if someone or somebody was running. Whether it was help or Grimm, Jaune could only whimper with excitement now beginning to boil and drown out his fears, "Who's there? Ruby?!"

Instead, just a few moments later of nothing but the sound of footsteps crunching against the snow and leaves, Jaune was met with the arrival of an unknown stranger rushing out of the bushes. The stranger appeared to be a fairly young adult with no facial hair, and had blonde hair that was fixed into a short buzzcut. And lastly, the young man was wearing a uniform that consisted of dark khaki trousers with puttees and black boots, a coat that beared no other colour than dark khaki, a khaki coloured webbing, and a distinctive garrison cap with a red and white checker strip.

The stranger had a bolt-action rifle in his hands, but he quickly appeared in shock when he saw the sight of Jaune lying stuck under a layer of snow and the thick branch (which appeared more like an abstractly twisted section of log). Jaune had never seen such a man, or better yet any soldier who was dressed in such a particular uniform, but his newly founded curiosity was only supporting a façade with his aura in order to repel the pain in his right leg and hip. Luckily, it did not take much for the stranger to drop his rifle, assess the damage, and utter his first words to Jaune, "Bleeding Christ…how are you still alive?"

"Don't ask..." Jaune barked with excitement and pain in his voice, "I'm trapped underneath these branches, and…I can't lift them up myself. Can you give me a hand?"

"Ah, why yes!" The young rifleman agreed sternly yet sympathetically as he trudged towards Jaune and proceeded to remove the thinner branches off of him, "Bloody hell, you took a nasty fall."

"What…how did you know?" Jaune muttered as he felt the branches and bits of snow being removed from him.

"Well, judging by the trees all around me, you looked as if you were climbing." The young rifleman replied back before he looked at the thick branch that was crushing Jaune's lower legs, "What were you doing that got you in this mess?"

"Well…" Jaune groaned, "It's a long story. I can tell you later once that branch is off my legs."

The young rifleman did not say another word other than the action of nodding his head; however, this was for a good reason. He was looking at the thick and gnarly tree branch that rested on top of Jaune's lower legs, and judging by the severity of the damage caused by the branch itself, the young rifleman could only cringe partially as he saw something that he wished not to tell Jaune. Though it was only unbeknownst to Jaune at the moment, but young rifleman saw that Jaune had actually twisted his right leg sideways.

"By the way…" Jaune spoke up in a friendly voice tone, despite the pain that attempted to break through his aura at any minute he lets his guard down, "The name is Jaune Arc."

The young rifleman turned his head to the left towards Jaune and greeted himself, but his voice was more stoic than friendly, "Jonathan. Jonathan Dale."

The young rifleman, who was now named Jonathan Dale, proceeded with inspecting the thick branch that fell on Jaune's legs before doing something that intrigued Jaune. Dale took out what looked like an entrenchment tool hanging from the right side of his backpack before proceeding to slip the shovelhead under the branch to Jaune's right, and using all his strength, he used the tool as a lever to lift the branch up by no more than couple inches. Without even turning his head, Dale barked at Jaune upon giving the branch a lift, "Crawl yourself out, Jaune. I can't lift this branch for long."

Jaune acknowledged Dale's command and his strategy as well, and with nothing to lose, Jaune dragged himself backwards and away from the branch that Dale was keeping up. At last, Jaune could only thank his luck to live another day as he laid back down on the snow and clearing his legs from the branches. Immediately after laying his back on the snow again, Dale let the thick branch crash back down on the ground before pulling his E-tool out and putting it back on his backpack.

Suddenly, a new voice shouted just nearby, "Dale! This is not a game here! Where are you?!"

"I'm over here. Follow my voice." Dale replied back while walking towards Jaune to further assess his injuries; however, Jaune had already beaten him to the chase.

"Ah…I knew it…" Jaune groaned as he saw his right leg, which was twisted to the left as if someone attempted horrible to turn his leg into rope, "I broke my right leg."

"If that's the case, how long can you hang on?" Dale questioned as he crouched to Jaune's right.

"I'm not sure." Jaune hesitantly responded, and all along, he still had his aura up to nullified the pain, "Why do you ask?"

"Well, the trenches are about ten or so miles away, and they can offer you proper medical attention with that leg of yours." Dale replied sternly yet grimly, "If you can hold on until I can get you there, you're going to be alright. How's that sound?"

"That's very kind." Jaune agreed with excitement partially evident in his voice despite the pain, "But…before we go, there are couple things that I left in the wreckage somewhere. Can you be able to recover them for me?"

To Jaune's surprise, before Dale could respond, the bushes rustled to reveal a light bearded man with brown hair and wore an identical uniform to Dale.

"Eh?" The bearded rifleman uttered, "What the hell happened here?"

"This man here got stuck underneath a thick branch over there." Dale responded and while pointing at the site where Jaune landed, "He took quite a nasty fall from one of those trees."

"Yeah, we can tell by that right leg of his." The bearded rifleman added, giving the first impression that he was able to assess the situation quite quickly, "And…why is he glowing?"

Dale was confused at first as to what the bearded rifleman said before noticing from his sleeves that there was a white glow emitting from Jaune.

"Um, that's my aura." Jaune informed, of which he was trying his best to remain calm and cool while keeping his aura up as much as possible, "If I let it down, I'll be in just…my Oum, I don't want to know what kind of pain I'll be in."

"Aura?" Dale and the bearded rifleman said almost in unison, just before three other identically dressed rifleman emerged from the snowy foliage as well.

"Bugger it, tell us later." The bearded rifleman brashly barked, "Dale, let's get him out here. With his leg twisted in that position, he's going to lose it to frostbite."

"But wait!" Jaune pleaded, with Dale remembering Jaune's request from earlier, "We can't go without a couple things I left behind."

"Eh? Speak it up then! You're going to freeze out here." The bearded rifleman barked sternly yet understandably.

"You see…" Jaune began as he adjusted himself to sit up slightly, "My scroll is on the other side of that branch. Can any of you get it for me?"

"I'll go get it." One of the rifleman said as he walked over on the other side of the branch; however, to Jaune's slight surprise and worry, it looked as if the rifleman had no idea what he was looking for.

"I don't see anything other than this sword and shield here." The rifleman reported before emerging from the other side with such weapon; which lo and behold, it was Corcea Mors.

"Hey!" Jaune cried out loud upon seeing his beloved shield and sword, "That belongs to me!"

"These?" The rifleman questioned as he rose both the shield and sword in his arms, "Hmm, this is marvellous."

"Bennet, just give it to him." Dale ordered, "He's going to need it in case we encounter anything other than him out here."

"Whoa, whoa, hold on a second. Are you really going to give him back his sword and shield?" The bearded rifleman questioned rather bothered by such a command, "We might as well throw this poor lad into the fight no matter his injuries I suppose."

"Well, my aura can minimise the pain, but I'm nowhere capable of walking on my right leg." Jaune spoke for Dale, "In fact, I can't even feel it anymore at this point."

"Jesus…" The bearded rifleman grumbled before he made up his mind, "Well, we better get you out of here as soon as possible. Is there anything else that we need to find for you?"

"Yes, my scroll." Jaune requested.

"But I haven't found any over there." The rifleman from earlier, now named Bennet, said as he gave Jaune his weapon, Corcea Mors, back to him, "But if I'm seeing things, I could've sworn I saw a yellow diamond on a metal plate."

"That's my scroll then." Jaune snapped back while he collapsed the shield and sheath the sword.

"Well, you heard the lad. Go get it." The bearded rifleman ordered to Bennet; whom he immediately went back around the branch and came out with Jaune's scroll.

Immediately, when Jaune slung Corcea Mors on his back, and put his scroll back in his right pocket, Dale had slung the rifle he had dropped earlier and proceeded to questioned Jaune of his condition, "You ready?"

Jaune did not even had to say a word as he nodded his head back in agreement before he saw that both Dale and the bearded rifleman were putting him in a double human crutch.

"On three." The bearded rifleman commanded, "One, two, three."

Slowly but surely, Jaune was being lifted off the ground and onto his feet. Plus, with Dale to his right and the bearded rifleman to his left, Jaune was able to us their shoulders to wrap his arms around and use them as crutches, and thereby allowing him to walk on his left leg. With a moment of silence, Jaune finally gave Dale and the other rifleman the go with a simple yet friendly command, "Let's go."

"Alright, lad." The bearded rifleman instructed to Jaune, "The name is Ferguson, but listen to us closely. Keep that aura of yours up, or as you said before, you're going to be in a mighty world of hurt with that leg. Otherwise, you hang in there for a minute, I got one more thing to do."

The bearded rifleman, now named Ferguson, then turned his attention to the foliage he, Dale, and the other riflemen have emerged from and gave out a decisive yell, "Andre, Emil, we're heading back to the front. Our reconnaissance mission is over."

"Quoi?" An accented voice spoke before another unusually dressed rifleman walked out of the bushes. This particular soldier was the most colourful in comparison to Dale, Ferguson, and the other riflemen; with his uniform consisted of a dark blue trench coat, red trousers with brown boots, a black leather webbing system, and a forage cap on his head. He had an identical bolt-action rifle to Dale, Ferguson, and the other riflemen; however, the rifle appeared longer and lacked a box magazine, and he already had his rifle slung on his right shoulder.

"Our assignment is over, we found someone." Ferguson repeated before four more riflemen of the same red and blue uniform emerged from the foliage as well and assessing the scene before them; however, they too were not along either. Five more riflemen emerged from the foliage as well, only this time they were wearing a uniform that consisted of slate grey trousers with brown jackboots, a coat that had red accents and shoulder loops (with white stripes), a leather webbing (which had four pouches at the front), and a particular helmet that appeared to have a spike hidden under a dark khaki cloth covering. They appeared to wield identical rifles to the blue and red uniformed riflemen, but one curious detail that Jaune noticed was that two of those dark grey uniform riflemen were wearing peakless caps on their head.

Aside from such a broad range of military uniforms presented by what were now fifteen soldiers, Jaune could only ingest the sight of the dark grey uniformed and the red and blue uniformed soldiers reacting to his appearance and condition. All these riflemen shared reactions in terms of curiosity and intrigue, particularly at his clothing and physical appearance. Interestingly, one thing that Jaune took note of upon these coloured designated soldiers was the fact that they were speaking in gibberish that had distinctive sounds.

The blue and red uniformed soldiers were speaking in gibberish that sounded soft yet stern at the same time, whereas the dark grey uniformed soldiers were speaking in a form of gibberish that sounded harsh yet meant well and subtle. Interestingly, Jaune took note that the soldiers were speaking in their form of gibberish that had very similar words to each other. For example, Jaune could make out the word, Blonde, from both sides; and it was here that Jaune would certainly blush as a female, since every one of those soldiers were talking about his hair and physical build.

Although the comments within the chatter were brief, Ferguson finally gave the command to every riflemen and thereby ending the rescue, "Alright, listen up everyone. This lad here, Jaune Arc, had quite a nasty fall, and we're going to get him back to the trenches as soon as we can. Whether we still have much to explore, that will have to wait until some other time. What's more important is that we get Jaune Arc to the trenches and get him proper medical attention. The last thing we need is to leave our first sign of life out here to die succumb to frostbite. Now, we'll carry Jaune, while you guys provide us protection and get us back. Do any of you understand?"

"Jawohl! Oui!" The crowd of soldiers replied back in loose unison.

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 **Author's Note** **(** **s** **):** Hello and Welcome back ladies and gentlemen for Chapter Three of this story. I admit this chapter was a little longer than usual for what could've been the first encounter for the French, Scottish, and Germans against the world of Remnant; however, do not feel offended with the lack of Grimm in this chapter so far, remember that the Emerald Forest is under attack by what could be the case scenario of a sudden ice age. With that mind, Grimm activity is considerably low for now, but make no mistake that the Grimm will adapt to such a sudden weather and climate change, and eventually strike back somewhere. Otherwise, I hope you all enjoy this story and I wish you all to stay tune for the next chapter, and from here on out, I will see you all until next time. Oh and lastly, Happy Veterans Day for any of you fellow American fanfiction writers and readers out there, coming soon on 11th October 2016!


	4. Chapter 04

**Warning : This chapter has been updated. No elements of censorship had been implemented; however, this chapter has been given addition information and content. Any fellow followers and/or readers are to recognise this update as a false alarm, and proceed to await for future chapters to come.**

 **READER'S DISCRETION HAS BEEN ADVISED**

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 **RWBY** **: Dans le Nid d'Aigle**

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 **Chapter 04** **-** **Les Amis Perdus et Fondés**

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 **09:40am**

 **Moments Ago** **,** **Ruby Rose**

The snowy Emerald Forest was fast asleep by nothing but the rolling sound of the morning breeze rustling the leaves and branches. Even though it was the spring season, there were no birds chirping due to the sudden appearance of the snow and ice brought upon the Emerald Forest. In addition, the presence of Grimm was unusually low, but in such a surprising climate change, every living creature had to find higher grown or otherwise freeze to death; however, the beauty and tranquillity brought upon the forest was unfortunately interrupted by the sound of a brief crunch and a feminine scream.

"NO BIRDY! NOT AGAIN!" Ruby screamed as she crashed through a small black bird and instantly reducing it to a small fluff of feathers and rose pedals.

This was all déjà vu to Ruby when she first set foot upon Beacon Academy. Being launched from the Beacon Cliffs via by launch pads and then flying through the air, it all but reminded Ruby of the initiation all over again, except she and her team (RWBY) were going in the Emerald Forest with an entirely different mission. Unlike the initiation, Ruby and her team were not going into the Emerald Forest to retry the initiation; they were tasked with exploring a strip of land that snaked through the forest called, No Man's Land.

Because it was snowy, however, this created an interestingly scenario for the mission since team RWBY, as well as team JNPR, did not have to worry about fighting too much Grimm as well as the cold. Unfortunately, team RWBY and JNPR had to remain cautious and well-alert for the smallest signs of Grimm when they made their landing into the now snowy Emerald Forest. In addition, being that it was cold, it also did not help with the fact that the cold air was rushing past Ruby and giving her some annoy chills…at least, that was one of the first setbacks.

Ruby frantically fired her weapon, Crescent Rose, in its sniper rifle form to slow her down and give her a chance to make her landing into the forest below. Thinking quickly, she transformed Crescent Rose into its scythe form and hook herself onto an incoming branch; however, before she could start a second loop around the branch, Ruby suddenly lost her grip from the handle of Crescent Rose and found herself flying forward through the air and into a wall of leaves and snow. With only a startled cry, Ruby smashed into the tree and bounced off the tree trunk stomach first.

With her aura up, Ruby only gave a pained grunt before she found herself crashing back first into a branch to her right and uttering out loud, "Bad…"

Immediately, Ruby hastily steadied herself to land on an incoming branch below her; however, she ended up slipping off due to a layer of snow and slamming the back of her shoulders into the branch.

"Landing…" Ruby uttered again upon slamming her shoulders into the branch, before falling forward and seeing another branch down below. Thinking quickly, Ruby grabbed onto the branch with her bare hands and the protection of aura to stop her fall. Unfortunately, the branch was thinner than the previous branches that Ruby slammed into and the branch partially bended under the strain of Ruby's weight and grip.

"Strategy." Ruby completed, with her voice appropriate to someone expressing partial embarrassment, fear, and hesitation.

Silence had almost immediately settled in as Ruby hung onto the cold branch with both her hands, but to make matters worse, when Ruby looked down, she merely yelped before attempting to scrunch up into a ball out of fear. Of course Ruby had seen worse, and although she had been in such a cold environment before, looking down to see how high she was up in a snowy tree was a different case scenario. Without Crescent Rose, Ruby was hanging on for dear life, and it did not help with the fact that there were no more branches down below that could slow Ruby's final descent.

Then, as if an hour had passed among the silence, there was the sound of mid-air explosions in the distance. Ruby instantly recognised those sounds as all she saw was a yellow blur flying through the sky in the distance before landing somewhere in the far distance out in front of where Ruby was looking. She could tell that was her older sister, Yang, and she did not have to worry about her, considering that she was the heavy hitter of team RWBY; however, as for Ruby herself, her situation was on a cold edge.

She knew very well that her aura could protect her from a fall, but considering the reasonable height from the branch to the ground, she was going to end up spraining her ankles, and in the worst case scenario, break both legs all together. This was not like jumping off a building where it was two to three stories high, and Ruby could not be any more scared for her life when she looked down again with morbid curiosity to find that quickly realise she was more than 33m (110ft) above the ground. Luckily, as she yelped and scrunched again in fright, Ruby was quite literally hugging the branch like as if god extended a guarding arm to protect her from an abysmal fall.

"Nope…" Ruby whimpered as she buried her face in the branch while gripping for her life, "No…"

Unfortunately, the branch that Ruby was hanging on to was thinner and weaker than the previous two branches, and to her dismay, the sound of crackling began to slowly creep up at the base of the branch. Ruby could peek at the tree trunk and watch the cracks form from where the branch was jointed to the tree. She had no other choice other than hanging on for the remaining minute as the branch held on just enough to allow Ruby to utter out loud again, "Aw…"

Suddenly, the branch snapped and sending Ruby down to the snow below. Not surprisingly, Ruby panicked as she felt herself fall to the ground below; however, she still had her aura up, and when she looked down again, she was lucky to find that that she was about to fall into a small clearing. Therefore, with nothing to lose, and given the opportunity to redeem herself, Ruby bumped herself off the tree to her left before landing in the snow with a right shoulder roll…but ended up lying on her back upon completing her hasty roll.

Unusually, Ruby chuckled upon landing in the snow before she picked herself up and giggling lightly, "Nailed it."

"You sure did, sis." A familiar voice commented both happily and jokingly, before the foliage broke away to reveal the source of the voice coming from Yang, "But I've seen better."

"Well if it weren't for the breeze, it could've been like last time." Ruby countered as she finished standing up and brushing herself off.

"Yeah, blame the cold." Yang jokingly scrutinised.

"Yang, I'm serious." Ruby snapped and placed her hands on her hips, "It is seriously cold out here."

"Oh I know that for sure." Yang admitted while keeping her carefree and happy attitude, "Still, that kind of cold doesn't beat that of Ice Queen…whose somewhere out there."

Ruby quietly chuckled to herself, and hoping to hide the fact that she really wanted to scold her older sister from making such a remark towards Weiss in particular.

"Anyways, speaking of Ice Queen, we got to find her and Blake as soon as we can." Yang swiftly informed, "Something tells me that we'll be getting a snowstorm quite soon."

"Since when did you know about this?" Ruby asked, with her voice a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

"Well, it's just a hunch." Yang admitted, "I don't know if anyone else though of that. But…if not, you can call me cra-yang-zy."

Ruby sighed quietly and rather unamused towards her older sister's pun; however, Ruby got the rest of Yang's message and otherwise agreed upon the update, "Let's get going though…I bet they're already moving onto the given coordinates that were supposed to take."

"Got to agree. We'll probably run into them if by chance." Yang agreed before she made one last proposition, "Oh, and before I forget, you'll need this."

Yang reached her right hand behind her back to be carrying Crescent Rose, which upon the first couple seconds of wielding it, Ruby merely freaked out in excitement. Just as quick as a flash, Ruby dashed towards Yang using her semblance and snatched Crescent Rose from her at ungodly speeds. Not surprisingly, Yang could not help but cross her arms and chuckle out of the pure cuteness coming from Ruby dearly hugging Crescent Rose (which was in is inactive form).

"Wheredidyoufind?!" Ruby dearly and excitedly asked her older sister, with her words coming at her like machine gun fire, "ItotallyforgotaboutitandIdon'tknowwhatIwoulddoifyouhaven'tfoundit!"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down sis." Yang said while putting her hands out to make Ruby slow down and calm down, "I so happened to have found Crescent Rose when it landed almost right next to me. But otherwise, should I give you a moment of reunion?"

"Oh, uh…" Ruby bashfully hesitated as she found herself hugging her weapon like a baby, "Sorry."

Yang could only chuckle as Ruby slung beloved Crescent Rose on her right shoulder and recompose herself before giving out the marching orders, "Now, shall we be on our way?"

"Yep. But where exactly?" Yang agreed as Ruby took out her scroll and booted it up before finding the map of the coordinates.

"We should head…" Ruby began as she put her left finger up before pointing east, "…that way!"

"Lead the way then, sis." Yang approved before she and Ruby walked into the forest and towards their destination out in the now snowy Emerald Forest.

 ** _=====][=====_**

 **9:48am**

 **Meanwhile** **, Weiss Schnee**

Weiss swatted away a few branches from a snow-laden bush rather abruptly and irritably as if she had been constantly pestered by the pointed and rough edges of the branches all day long. Following behind her was none other than Blake, whom barely flinched or uttered a word about the snow and wildlife around her, but it did not help with the fact that she was moving slightly slow due to the deep snow that she and Weiss were trudging through just moments after their landing and rendezvous. In addition, although both Weiss and Blake were wearing jackboots, Weiss had superior protection and traction despite the fact that Blake was wearing an identical pair of jackboots like Weiss.

Even though there was no snowfall, Weiss was already accumulating some small bits of snow onto her white fur ushanka and as well as her white pants; however, being that she was from Atlas, the snow was of very little concern to her well-being other trying to keep herself warm from the surrounding cold. Blake was on the same page as Weiss despite the fact that Blake has never grown up in arctic areas like Atlas, but on the other hand, Blake had the advantage of her feline Faunus traits of superior hearing and eyesight. Nevertheless, Weiss lead through the forest rather undaunted as she held her scroll in her left hand with the map of the coordinates leading to No Man's Land, but…there was a problem that both Weiss and Blake had to address…

"Still no sign of that Dolt." Weiss grumbled to herself; however, her speech was clearly heard by the feline Faunus trailing behind her.

"Well, as a team, we have our given coordinates." Blake added stoically and unaffected by Weiss's annoyed muttering, "So it's only smart that we run into them on the way to No Man's Land."

"Hmm…" Weiss agreed under her breath before she spoke up in a normal voice tone, "That's true, but it irks me that she doesn't give us a call to tell us a game plan here."

"Yeah." Blake nodded as she cleared her footing over a scraggly formation of fallen tree branches on the ground, "Well probably get better luck with Yang."

Weiss unexpectedly scoffed at Blake's suggestion as she stopped and turned towards Blake, "Are you kidding? Like we're going to get anything out of that buxom. I'm sorry, but even with her, we're not going to get a very good plan other than charging into the fray with guns blazing."

"Well having a plan is better than no plan." Blake countered, with her stoic attitude barely holding on to Weiss's annoyance, "But if I had to agree upon stealth or kicking down the front door, I'll stick with the earlier suggestion."

"That is?" Weiss frowned, which was rather unexpected to Blake.

Not surprisingly, Blake sighed with her voice finally wielding some annoyance as she dared not to repeat herself, "Did you forget already?"

"Do you think?" Weiss sassed back at the feline Faunus as they both resumed to walk through the snow, "Of course I agree with your earlier suggestion. Why wouldn't you think so?"

"I'm just saying." Blake shrugged as her voice battled to remain mostly stoic, "I don't know if it's just me or not, but I have a bad feeling that we're going have to snake our way around No Man's Land. From the name itself, we're going to be encountering something out there, and it's not going to take our presence lightly."

"That may be true…," Weiss agreed, "But how can you make such an assumption like that when we haven't got there yet?"

"Like I said…," Blake restated in a similar fashion to her previous dialogue, "I'm just saying, and plus, I was also suggestion our plan at the same time."

"Oh I know." Weiss confirmed, which came to no surprise to Blake as she and Weiss continued trudging through another snow-laden bush, "I was about to point that out, and I have to say, having a plan is better than none, thanks to you."

Blake said nothing else to Weiss for a moment when Weiss made a slow shallow right turn and taking care to clear her footing over a shallow yet frozen creek. Both Weiss and Blake carefully walked over the frozen narrow body of water by walking on a snow-laden log that make an improvised yet adequate bridge; however, the log was narrow as well, being that it was a small fallen tree that had been weakened by the creak. Aside from this, when Blake and Weiss crossed the creak, Blake was rather relieved by Weiss's silence so far since she did not bother to say another word as Blake regrouped with her; however, the brief moment of peace was eventually broken by a rather surprising question by Weiss.

"Speaking of having a plan, do you have any idea where we are?"

"If you're talking specific-wise…," Blake replied back as she trudged through the snow to Weiss's left, "I have no clue."

"Great…" Weiss cursed under her breath, with annoyance returning to her voice, "Then…"

At that moment, Weiss nodded her head slightly forward and making her suggestion at the same time, "This way."

Blake did not say anything as she followed Weiss in the given forward direction and walking off into the snowy Emerald Forest once again.

 _ **=====][=====**_

 **9:55am**

 **Meanwhile** **,** **Team** **(** **J** **)** **NPR**

"He's not answering." Ren humbly yet grimly said as he took his scroll away from his right ear and looked at the screen before dialing Jaune's number again.

"Where could he be?" Pyrrha mumbled to herself as she walked back and forth with her arms crossed. She was already in a calm yet reasonable state of anxiety and fear over Jaune's well-being out there in the Emerald Forest. Though it had been a few months after Jaune had ditched Cardin and his team back in the Forest of Forever Falls, Pyrrha cared greatly for Jaune despite the fact that he was quite a dense individual for his age…though she could not exactly say that she had a romantic relationship with him yet.

"Ah he probably kept his scroll in silent if you ask me." Nora thought out loud as she walked around close to Pyrrha and Ren, "Or you know, I bet he's wanting to have some time to himself if he's being all quiet for so long."

"I don't think he would do such a thing." Ren disagreed as he finished dialling Jaune's number, "And even if he did, he would have a good reason other than the time he fraternised with Cardin."

"Touché." Nora admitted, "Maybe he did put his scroll on silent after all."

"Well, if he did, then…" Pyrrha sighed before nodding her head to the right and left in worry, "I don't exactly know what to say…"

"Ah don't lose yourself too soon." Nora assured as she rested her hands on Pyrrha's shoulders, "If he could take on an Ursa Major, and better yet Cardin, you got to admit that he had seen worse. Still…I really wanted to break Cardin's legs!"

At the same time that Nora attempted to assure Pyrrha, Ren finally gave up upon calling Jaune and instead went to the map on his scroll.

"Well, I got some good news and some bad news." Ren announced to Nora and Pyrrha upon facing their direction.

"Go right on ahead." Nora said rather cheerfully, "Have you found him?"

"That's the bad news." Ren said with his voice coming straight at Nora and Pyrrha like a full-size lorry, "With no contact coming from Jaune, I'm going to give Ruby a call to have her team keep a lookout for him. Chances are that he may have landed closer to them than us."

"Towards team RWBY?" Pyrrha asked to Ren with scepticism slowly escaping from her voice, "What make you think of that?"

"Hmm…" Ren muttered as he placed his hands to his hips and turned his head away from both Nora and Pyrrha for a moment before he spoke again without facing either of them, "He did say to you all that the launch pads were out of synch, right?"

"Yeah he did." Pyrrha replied, this time with her scepticism brushed to the side for the moment.

"Then, it comes to the conclusion that he may have been launched off course." Ren said as he recomposed himself, and with his voice sounding as if he was revealing a thought, "And judging by what happened on the launch pads for you two, something had to have gone wrong. I don't know if I saw things or not, but I felt as if I got hit by a train."

"Are you kidding?" Nora questioned with her voice mixed with someone who was joking and concerned at the same time, "Of course, admittedly, the launch pads were a bit rough, but that's nowhere in breaking one's legs though, right?"

"Uh…Nora?" Pyrrha asked rather confused by Nora's questioning and subsequent rambling, "You said...uh, it was not enough to break somebody's legs?"

"Yeah, that's what I said." Nora confirmed; however, her voice was slightly sceptical and suspicious of how Pyrrha was acting.

"Well, uh…never mind." Pyrrha denounced and shaking her head back and forth for a moment, "I had a thought and I…"

Before Pyrrha could attempt to get what she was saying, there was the sound of rustling from the foliage to the left of team (J)NPR. Almost as if everyone had the same thought, team (J)NPR swivelled their heads towards the source of what sounded like leaves rustling and snow crunching lightly. Subsequently, Pyrrha was the first to take action with what could be their first encounter with Grimm, via by arming herself with her spear (Miló) and shield (Akoúo̱).

Nora and Ren done the same with their weapons as well; however, they kept their weapons low when Pyrrha shouted out something curious to whoever was in the foliage, "Jaune? Is that you?"

There was no response as the leaves rustled even more and the snow crunched lightly, but there were some things that team (J)NPR took note of as such movement drew closer and closer to them. First, all three members of team (J)NPR heard no growls or roaring coming from the foliage in front of them, and two, the footsteps were unusually light and gentle with the snow. Although if all three members of team (J)NPR did not know any better, they might have just thought an Ursa Cub was coming towards them; however, that was not the case when a light orange blur came trudging out of the foliage before it came to rest before team (J)NPR.

All three members of team (J)NPR were startled to find a light orange tabby cat looking at them just moments after it emerged from the snow-covered foliage. The cat had no other colour other than a light orange (like a yellowish colour in the simplest words), and it appeared to be unharmed if not also curious and somewhat hesitant towards the apparently combined threating presence of team (J)NPR. Not long after a moment of silence, the orange cat gave a rather quiet meow; however, judging from how its eyes, the cat was reasonably frightened.

As if in unison, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren could only lower their weapons and awe towards the cuteness and the fearful body language that the cat was expressing. Knowing that any sudden movement would scare the cat away, Ren was the first to act and holster his pistols (StormFlower) into his sleeves and slowly extend his arm while crouching towards the cat. Nora and Pyrrha refrained themselves as well while they watched Ren attempt to assure the cat and coax it towards them.

At first, the cat wanted to back away from team (J)NPR due to their threatening appearance as a result of their loose battle poses and weapons on hand; however, with Ren gently outstretching his right hand out, the cat stared at Ren with its curiosity. Eventually, it slowly walked forward towards Ren and rub its head against Ren's right knee while giving another meow at the same time. Not surprisingly, Nora and Pyrrha crouched to the left and approached the cat not too far, but with the cat focused on Ren, both females could only smile as they saw cat allowing Ren to pet it.

"I think it likes you, Ren." Nora happily commented as she and the rest of team (J)NPR heard the orange cat purr.

"Got to agree." Pyrrha added as well, "Though you got to wonder how such a poor thing would be out in the middle of nowhere."

"Yeah…" Ren agreed, though the light orange cat seemed to draw his attention most of the time.

"Wait…" Pyrrha thought out loud, with inquisitiveness suddenly evident in her voice, "Is it me or is just…"

Both Ren and Nora looked at Pyrrha as if they were intent on finding out what she wanted to say; however, they both noticed that Pyrrha was attempting to put the same thought back together just moments ago.

"Ah, never mind." Pyrrha nodded to herself; however, Ren had thought otherwise.

"Pyrrha…," Ren said with some consternation and concern in his voice, "If you have a thought, please tell us. Is something bothering you?"

Pyrrha remained quiet and unaffected by Ren's concern, but with Nora expressing a similar facial expression as to Ren, Pyrrha only had to speak up or she might as well keep her team in the dark, "Well, I don't know if it's just me, but the cat reminds of Jaune for some reason."

Ren did not seem to believe Pyrrha's statement at first as he looked at Pyrrha rather confused and reasonably dubious in his eyes. On the other hand, to the surprise of Ren and Pyrrha, Nora giggle in response, "No, it can't be. A person turning into a…"

Suddenly, Nora gasped before her voice gleamed with excitement and realisation, "Maybe that's his semblance. He can turn from a person to a cat…well, considering that he does have blonde hair."

"That may be true." Ren agreed stoic as the light orange cat eventually leaped up into Ren's arms, "But for a person to turn into an animal? I don't know, but…we can't be entirely sure. Unless…"

Then, Ren looked at the cat's face and immediately drew Ren to nodded his head in disagreement, "Nah, Jaune's eyes are blue not green."

"Hmm…?" Nora asked rather baffled by Ren's analysation for a moment before she looked at the cat's face as well and soon expressed defeat in her voice, "Aw…at least it's a beautiful orange cat after all."

Pyrrha chuckled a bit before resting her right hand on Nora's left shoulder to assure her that no harm had been done, "Don't feel bad, Nora. At least it was a good hypothesis."

"You think?" Nora said back, with her voice sounding as if she was wanting to verify Pyrrha's feelings.

"I believe so, considering that this could've been Jaune if we didn't know any better." Pyyrha sympathetically assured.

"Aw Pyrrha, don't be so kind." Nora countered; however, her voice meant well despite the words of choice she was using, "Only if this cat is Jaune, then we're…"

Suddenly, the orange cat sitting in Ren's hands perched its head up and towards the bushes again as a horrifying sound echoed throughout the forest. The sound was neither Grimm or any other lifeforms, but the sound was one that was unfortunately recognisable to team (J)NPR as they turned their heads in the direction of where the cat was looking. The sound belonged to Jaune, whom he was yelling in pain out in the distance…which brought severe chills up all three members of team (J)NPR as their facial expressions changed from happiness to an eerie silent horror.

"Jaune…" Pyrrha uttered, with the breath of her voice filled with terror and worry that no actor could replicate if they had the chance.

As if the cat was feeling the same way like the three members of team (J)NPR, the orange cat instantly leaped out of Ren's lap and hands before it dashed through the snow and into the bushes.

"Follow the cat!" Nora cried with her bubbly attitude mixed with dismay in her voice, "He may lead us to Jaune!"

Pyrrha and Ren did not have say a word as they nodded her head to the left and right before they stood up from the snow and chased after Nora and the cat into the snowy Emerald Forest.

 _ **=====][=====**_

 **10:30am** **–** **Present Time**

 **Elsewhere in the Emerald Forest** **,** **Jaune**

"So let me get this straight, lad." Ferguson stated to Jaune Arc, which appeared to be in reaction as if he was summarising a confusing explanation, "We're in a world called Remnant, and you're a student of a school called Beacon Academy? Tell me, am I deaf or have you lost yourself from that fall?"

Jaune, whom was limp walking thanks to Ferguson and Dale acting as a double human crutch, replied back a bit offended while he trudged along in the snow, "Why wouldn't I be telling you this? I can prove you that I'm not lying."

Ferguson along with the other Scottish Fusiliers, French, and Germans remained quiet for the moment as if they were waiting for Jaune to continue; however, it was only through this silence that Ferguson finally slowed down and instantly making Dale to do the same from Jaune's left.

"If it was up to me, I would scold you for that attitude of yours." Ferguson grimly warned while keeping his voice tone at a bearable yet stern level, "But being that we're out here in this bloody winter wonderland, you might as well prove yourself at this very moment."

"That's fine with me…once you put me down." Jaune agreed while remaining calm as well.

"We'll do just that." Ferguson acknowledge as he looked to his right towards a tree, "That tree over there will have to do. Dale, let's put him down."

Dale did not have to say a word as he nodded his head in agreement before he and Ferguson guided Jaune towards the tree.

"Gentle on that leg." Ferguson warned as he and Dale help Jaune slowly sit down on the snow and rest his back against the tree, "Wouldn't want to bum it any further."

Jaune slowly slipped his arms from Ferguson and Dale's shoulders before he rested them in the snow for a moment. Not surprisingly, Jaune shrugged slightly to make his back and legs comfortable, and at the same time, Ferguson crouched to Jaune's left while Dale stood a short distance and nearly joined up with the rest of the Scottish Fusiliers standing nearby. At last, after a brief moment, Jaune sat for a bit before reached for his scroll hanging on his right hip; but just before he opened it up, Ferguson could not help but ask the strange contraption that Jaune had in his hands.

"You said that was your scroll, right?"

"Yeah." Jaune simply replied before he opened his scroll and letting the screen come to life towards the home screen, "It's a handheld holographic phone that can be used for multiple purposes, such as, making calls, texting, making notes, and etc."

"Phone?" Ferguson questioned, only this time his voice was a combination of curiosity and scrutiny, "You mean as in phonograph?"

"Uh…no." Jaune disagreed, "Think of this it as…well how do I put this? A mobile telephone."

"Wait, did I just hear someone say, mobile telephone?" One of the Scottish Fusiliers asked out of curiosity.

"Yeah." Jaune replied back as he saw the Scottish soldier walking over; however, just as he thought Ferguson and the unnamed soldier were already the ones with such curiosity, Jaune could have sworn he heard the French and Germans mutter with similar expressions as well.

" _Uh oh…"_ Jaune thought to himself as he slowly realised something, _"They can't be serious..."_

"It doesn't look like a phone." Ferguson scrutinised, but his curiosity remained out in the open and otherwise overshadowing his suspicion, "If it weren't for you, it looks like a telescopic mirror."

"I can demonstrate by making a call to my team." Jaune suggested rather openly, which was to mask his partial surprise from his previous thought.

"Eh?" Ferguson frowned the moment that Jaune said the last word in his suggestion, "Your team?"

"Yeah…" Jaune replied back while he dialled Pyrrha's scroll number; however, he was not entirely paying attention to the fact that Ferguson was now giving him a frown as well as scepticism and curiosity, "I make up the letter, J, in my team called, Juniper. The rest of my team makes up the letters, N, P, and R."

Not surprisingly, Ferguson could only sigh and nod his head, which made Jaune stop as he finished dialling the scroll number and take a look.

"Are you…uh…?"

"Johnny-Boy…" Ferguson said as if he was initially sneering at first, "You never told us that you had a team out of that story you made earlier. Has that fall really gotten to you?"

"Oh come on, I'm not that badly hurt." Jaune countered back as he had his scroll rested on his right shoulder, "Well, save for my right leg."

"That's all thanks to what you call, Aura." Ferguson added, "If only we had that kind of power, we boys would be able to cross No Man's Land like almighty Valkyries. Hell, we could've used that to heal our injuries out in the field. But…no…"

"Well, I wouldn't say it's easy to…" Jaune said before he suddenly heard the dial tone on his scroll abruptly stopped with a brief silence before Jaune heard a familiar voice on speaker.

"Jaune?!"

"Hey Pyrrha." Jaune greeted as if he was completely healthy and unharmed; however, after keeping his aura up for as how long as he can keep track of, his aura was now running low to keep the excruciating pain his leg at bay.

"Jaune, we've been running around looking for you for Oum knows how long." Pyrrha demanded, with her voice slightly rasping from what sounded as if she had been running around like she said, "Where are you?"

"Pyrrha, I need you to do something." Jaune began with the best of his sympathetic voice as he could, "I need you and the rest of the team to calm down for a moment and let me say this. I'm still in one piece and I have been rescued from my…uh…little mishap."

Ferguson happened to have chuckled out loud upon hearing Jaune, "You call that a mishap? More like being nearly buried alive by nature itself."

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked rather surprised by Ferguson's chuckling, "Who was that? Are you sure everything is okay?"

"Well, uh…how do I put this?" Jaune hesitated as he scratched the top of his head with his left hand.

"Eh? Go on and tell her, lad." Ferguson nodded, with the other Scottish Fusiliers as well as the French and Germans in the background appearing to observe, "It's not like you're in a play."

"Let's just say I uh…" Jaune continued with hesitation still strong in his voice, "…had some help."

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha question as if Jaune was getting nowhere.

Jaune gave a long pause before he finally spoke the truth, "Uh…to start with, someone had…no wait, scratch that. A platoon of soldiers found me and got me out from under a bunch of tree branches…of which happened to have fell on my legs. But even before that, my legs were already broken from a fall I wasn't prepared for."

"Well, at least you're still alive after all that." Pyrrha sighed, with her voice slightly crackled electronically on speaker, "The only thing we have to do is find you and possibly your rescuers as well. Do you have any suggestions as to how we can find you?"

"Hmm…" Jaune pondered, "I don't really know exactly, other than looking for soldiers that are wearing the colours of green, grey, and…blue and red."

Suddenly, the sound of bushes rustling nearby that drew everyone's attention to Jaune's left. Whether it was the Germans and French raising their rifles in preparation for what might come out of the bushes, or the Scottish Fusiliers slowly approaching Ferguson and Jaune to warn them both of the incoming danger, Jaune could not help either to look to his left towards some snow covered bushes with a sign of readiness threatening to emerge from him as he went to reach for Corcea Mors on his back with his left hand. At the same time, Jaune failed to pay attention to what Pyrrha had to say as her voice immediately came back to his senses, "Jaune? Are you still with us?"

"Pyrrha…" Jaune said slowly yet grimly as he saw the rustling get progressively worse, "You guys might want to hurry, I think we have company."

"Johnny-Boy…" Ferguson warned as he placed his right hand on Jaune's left shoulder, "You going have to end that call soon, I got a bad feeling about this."

Then, as a growl crept out of the bushes, Ferguson turned his head to Dale and called him over, "Dale, get over here and let's get him to his feet."

"If you hear gunfire, follow the source." Jaune concluded almost in a hurry as he saw the Germans and French in the background readying their rifles, "Whatever you guys do, good luck. We'll be needing help as soon as we can."

Without waiting for a reply, Jaune ended the call immediately just in time to see a Beowolf finally emerge from the bushes with its red eyes presenting a menacing presence to everyone except Jaune. Ferguson as well as the Scottish Fusiliers merely froze in place as they saw the Beowolf almost towering over everyone before it gave a loud growl that could justify one command into every soldier from all three sides. The command was simple; shoot and run.

"Light that bastard to hell!" Ferguson shouted with anger and fear kicking him into overdrive to the survival of his soldiers, the French, the Germans, Jaune, and himself, "Shoot it!"

As if everyone was in a line formation, every rifle ranging from Mauser, Lebel, and Lee-Enfield opened fire upon the Beowolf that emerged from the bushes. Unfortunately, as the Beowolf itself got torn to piece by the incoming wall of full-sized rifle bullets from three different models of bolt-action rifles, it did not take long for another Beowolf to merge from the bushes; however, this Beowolf was charging out of the bushes with speeds that the soldiers were not entirely prepared for. To make matters worse, another Beowolf also followed along with a single-file line of four Beowolves and partially creating a perimeter around the Germans and French soldiers.

"Come on." Ferguson hissed as he and Dale rushed to lift Jaune to his feet, "We got to get moving."

Jaune had hung his scroll back on his right hip just in time to rest both his hands back onto Ferguson and Dale's shoulders; however, as soon as Jaune stood up and began to walk again, his aura began to slowly flicker, much to Jaune's increasing dismay as he felt the pain in his right leg and hip slowly creep their way to his senses. Therefore, he could only cringe as he made every attempt to hide and resist the gargantuan pain that threaten to demobilise him. Unfortunately, it did not take Ferguson and Dale too long to notice the dying light of Jaune's aura as they stopped in their tracks.

"Christ…" Ferguson cursed under his own breath as he saw the slowly growing cringe on Jaune's face; however, Ferguson averted his attention to the Scottish Fusiliers, and as well as the French and Germans to give them their current commands, "Okay everyone, we're going have to run and gun it to the trenches. I don't care how we do it, but we must get Jaune to safety as soon as possible. Whether we die trying by freezing to death or be eaten alive by this things, we have a life on the line that needs medical attention! Do any of you understand me?"

"Yes sir." The collective voice of the Scottish Fusiliers replied back as they had their Lee-Enfield rifles at the ready.

"We hear you loud and clear! ( _Nous vous entendons fort et clair!_ )" An accented voice replied back, which happened to be the commanding soldier of the French scouting group.

"Wir auch! ( _So did us too!_ )" Another accented voice followed, with this one belonging to the commanding soldier of the German scouting group.

Then, Ferguson turned to one of the Scottish rifleman from earlier, Bennet, and called him over, "Bennet, come over here and give us a hand."

"What are you doing?" Jaune asked while attempting to resist the growing pain in his right leg, "We can wait for my team to arrive and hold off those Beowolves. There's not that many of those things out here."

"Unfortunately, with that kind of face of yours, there is no way we're waiting." Ferguson growled just as the sound of rifles firing at the Beowolves ensued, "Either you don't realise this or not, but your aura is dying out."

Bennet immediately arrived as the first few seconds of the firefight erupted, which prompted Ferguson to give his next command, "Get a grip of his legs, we need to run."

Bennet did not even have to say a word as he grabbed Jaune's lower legs and now placing Jaune in a three-manned fore-and-aft carry, considering the fact that Jaune's armour and body weight make it difficult for one man to lift for long. Jaune could almost barely hiss as he felt Bennet's cold right hand touch the underside of his right leg, and with the pain slowly creeping up on Jaune, he barely had the energy to curse in response. Unfortunately, Jaune had no control over the situation as he heard Ferguson give the following commands, "Let's move!"

 _ **=====][=====**_

 **Author's Note** **(** **s** **):** Hello and Welcome back ladies and gentlemen for Chapter Four of this story. Now, as much as I am excited to upload this episode, I have some urgent announcements that I must inform to you fellow readers out there. First off, I want to apologise for my inconsistent updates that come and go every once and while to this story, and I also want to bring to you fellow readers that this story is not gaining as much momentum as I hoped for in the beginning. I don't know if I'm either a terrible writer (in which I'm taking forever to get my point across in the story) or this story is perfect so far, but I need your help as the readers to find any discrepancies, mistakes, or curious details in the story that may otherwise be revised and help to improve the quality of the story. If better, for any of you readers who are beta readers (specifically for RWBY fanfiction), do not be afraid to speak up, be as brutally honest as you can when it comes to analysing/reviewing my story. Otherwise, I may put this story on hold for a while and finish by next year's Christmas (December 2017) if I continue to have writer's block beyond Thanksgiving. Well, I hope you all enjoy this story and I wish you all to stay tune for the next chapter, and from here on out, I will see you all until next time.


	5. Chapter 05

**RWBY** **: Dans le Nid d'Aigle**

 ** _=====][=====_**

 **Chapter 05** **-** **Descendre et Sale**

 ** _=====][=====_**

 **10:40am**

 **Elsewhere in the Emerald Forest** **,** **Team ( J)NPR**

The snow-laden tree line of Emerald Forest was broken by a small forward explosion of snow, which instantly revealed Pyrrha to be smashing her way through with her sword (Miló) and shield (Akoúo̱) in both her hands. Following behind Pyrrha was the two other members of team JNPR; Lie Ren (with his two pistols, StormFlower, in both his hands), and Nora Valkyrie (with her grenade launcher, Magnhild, in her hammer form). If anyone witnessing team (J)NPR's entrance did not know any better, it would have looked like a grenade exploded in front of team (J)NPR.

Plus, if there was anyone else that followed team (J)NPR, he/she would have been in for quite a surprise upon passing the tree line, since team (J)NPR found themselves sliding down a steep yet small slope upon bursting through the tree line. Whether if the three members of the team were ready or not, snow slid off to the sides as the boots and shoes of team (J)NPR sled down the slope and dashed their way through the ancient ruins of a small stone temple. Though as suddenly as team (J)NPR came out of the tree line so suddenly, Pyrrha stopped in the centre of the ruins to asset her surroundings so far while retaining a defensive stance.

As it turns out, the ancient temple ruins that Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora were standing in appeared all too familiar to them, and it was only through a collective panorama view that all three members of team (J)NPR realised that they were standing in the very same temple ruins found in the initiation. Unlike the last time, there used to be a wall that blocked off the other side of the temple ruins; however, as the months went by in the first semester and as the new year rolled by, combined with the sudden appearance of the snowy and frigid weather, the wall was fairly demolished to the point where one could ride a motorcycle or bike without hitting a single brick. All three members of team (J)NPR stood in the centre of the with the slightest expression of déjà vu and realisation for a moment…until Ren finally broke the silence…

"No sign of that cat." Ren sighed as he slowly swivelled his head around and relaxing his defensive stance as if he was simply standing around, "And no sign of Jaune."

"If I may mention, Ren…" Pyrrha said, with her voice retaining a combined expression of annoyance and calmness, "With all due respect, we've gotten nowhere so far."

"Hmm." Ren muttered stoically and unaffected by Pyrrha's controlled frustration.

"Don't get me wrong though…," Pyrrha added, but only this time, her voice went from annoyance to assurance, "We found…something…"

"Something?" Nora and Ren almost said in unison, but with Ren muttering as opposed to Nora blurring out, Ren's voice was otherwise drowned out as he and Nora turned their heads in Pyrrha's direction.

"Oh…" Ren muttered as he and Nora saw what Pyrrha saw outside of the temple ruins.

"That wasn't there before." Nora babbled out loud, with her voice initially a combination of surprise and curiosity.

Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora stood and looked outside of the temple ruins collectively to notice a sight that looked as if it was meant to deter something or somebody from getting in. Not too far out from the temple, approximately 30 meters away, there was a cluster of wooden stakes covered in snow that were arranged into x-shaped posts; however, as team (J)NPR paid closer attention to the mess of x-shaped wooden stakes, all three members could not help but notice the jungle of steel wires wrapping around the stakes. Worst of all, it soon became obvious to team (J)NPR that they saw a clearing on the other side of the mess of steel wire and wooden stakes, and it was here that all three members of team (J)NPR made the biggest realisation…

"We failed to find Jaune, but we found…that…?" Ren questioned out loud, whom he was apparently asking all the two members of team (J)NPR, "What's wrong with this picture?"

"Oh, don't be silly, Ren." Nora bluffed as she eyed the jungle of steel wire fence in the distance, "Like Pyrrha said, we found something alright."

Quite unfortunately, Pyrrha could only sigh out in some defeat before she made a complaint with her voice slightly exemplifying disappointment as well, "I hate to be whimpering like this, but we still have to find Jaune as soon as we can.

"That's true…," Ren agreed, "If luck is on our hands, he may be somewhere in No Man's Land. He did mention that he was saved by a platoon of soldiers, didn't he?"

"Of course he did." Pyrrha confirmed as she kept her sword (Miló) and shield (Akoúo̱) on hand despite the lack of any defensive or offensive stances; however, it soon became apparent to Pyrha that Ren was on to something, and the neurological gears in head began to turn, "But...wait, now that I'm thinking about it, maybe he is in No Man's Land. Considering the name and the fence out there, those soldiers he mentioned may have come from No Man's Land."

"And plus, from the looks of it beyond the fence…," Ren added as well in agreement, "Wherever there's a battlefield, there are soldiers. And the only way to find out what's beyond that fence is to get into No Man's Land."

"Yeah." Pyrrha replied back with hesitation threatening to undermine her professional presence, "But if I'm completely honest, I don't think I'm going to be able to lift all that wire by myself."

"I don't think that will be necessary." Ren countered calmly, unknowing speaking rather naïvely, "As long as we don't get tangled in that wire, we can either jump or walk our way through."

Then, Ren was swivelling his head to the left towards Nora as he finished his suggestion, "Nora, how do you think that…"

Suddenly, when Ren turned his attention from Pyrrha towards the fence, he was immediately struck with dismay and a reasonable state of calm shock when he found that Nora was nowhere to be found upon turning his head away from Pyrrha. He did not even have to say a word or exclaim a single breath of panic in himself with Nora absent from the group, and as for Pyrrha, she too exclaimed quietly to find that Nora suddenly vanished. Quite frankly, this was not the first time that Nora disappeared so suddenly, and Ren knew this very well when he and Nora been in the initiation for the first time.

As it turns out, when Ren and Pyrrha quickly composed themselves, they saw Nora in the distance inspecting the fence as if she was a kid in a candy store. Nora was no longer armed as she was eyeing the gnarly wire fences before her, which stood only more than half her height; however, with curiosity kicking into overdrive, Nora noticed something very quickly upon poking her finger upon the fence. There were barbs all over the steel wires, and luckily for Nora, her brief and playful poking of the fence only earned her a small giggle combined with a hint of awe, "Oh, spiny."

"Nora!" Ren shouted behind Nora, which prompted her to turn around and almost return in flash, but it was upon turning around that she saw that Ren and Pyrrha were already within a short distance of her.

"Yes?" Nora sweetly and happily asked as she briefly secured her black fur ushanka on her head.

Ren did not say anything at first as he and Pyrrha finally walked up to the barbed wire fences with Nora; however, it was only a moment after inspecting the wire that Ren finally changed his mind in regards to what he said previously to Pyrrha, "Now that I'm seeing the fence for myself, I take back everything I said."

"Yeah." Pyrrha agreed, which was partially awkward as she almost began to sweat by the sight of the gnarly and crude barbs on the steel wires.

"I say we demolish the fence." Nora suggested, with her weapon (Magnhild) in its grenade launcher form at the ready, "Much like wanting to break Cardin's legs."

"I don't think that would be necessary yet." Ren disagreed, which was little bit to Nora's disappointment, "Let's see if Pyrrha can move the fence."

"Right then." Pyrrha nodded as she holstered her sword and shield on her back and immediately used her semblance of choice to work, Polarity/Magnetism.

Ren and Nora watched Pyrrha put her semblance to work, when the familiar black outlines appeared around the barbed wire fences (and all the while excluding the snowy wooden stakes). At first, as Pyrrha placed her hands low and close to her torso, the barbed wire fence began to slowly bend and twist loudly and while sending bits of snow and ice falling to ground in the process; however, things were not going so well as it appeared from Ren and Nora's point of view. From Pyrrha's point of view, it took quite the effort to even bend a half a dozen barbed steel cables, and it did not help with the fact that the wires were cold and riddled with ice and snow, since it actually made the steel cables stiffer and harder to bend.

Normally, Pyrrha would have no problem in lifting anything that was metallic, even if it was her weapon or anyone else's weapons; however, when it came to certain objects like barbed wire, the situation was surprisingly different. In comparison to ordinary metallic objects, such as, plates, bolts, screws, nuts, and gears, handling steel barbed wire was much like attempting to twist two large drainage pipes into the form of a rope. Although twisting and bending one barbed wire cable was simple right off the bat, when it came to doing the same thing upon half a dozen or more barbed wire cables, the situation turned out to be quite prickly and surprisingly tiresome.

Eventually, Pyrrha managed to lift a section of barbed wire upward to allow for a 42cm clearance, which was enough for anyone to crawl underneath as long as he/she did not get their hair and hats tangled in the menacing barbed wire. Upon making a reasonable clearance, Pyrrha immediately laid her semblance to rest as the black outlines on the barbed wire disappeared and leaving behind a rather eerie scene that Pyrrha created. The barbed wire was still a nightmarish jungle of steel and snow like it was moments ago, and Pyrrha's semblance did little to relief that unimaginable mess, since the section of barbed wire she lifted was little more than like compressed iron spaghetti.

"All done." Pyrrha said, with a slight hint of fatigue in her voice, which was disregarded for now by Ren and Nora as they observed Pyrrha's handiwork.

"Hmm, not bad." Ren agreed as he partially shrugged his shoulders, "Better to crawl under it than jump or walk over it."

Then, Ren took off his ushanka and carefully tossed it on the other side of the barbed wire fences before he turned his attention to Nora momentarily to give her a notification, "Come on, Nora. Let's get going."

"Alright then!" Nora bubbly agreed, not before Ren slipped Nora's ushanka off her head and tossed next to his on the other side of the barbed wire, "Oh."

"You two go on ahead, I'll be right behind you." Pyrrha commanded understandably as she saw Ren lying prone in the snow and crawling his way under the barbed wire.

Soon, Nora followed suit with her partner; however, before she could begin to follow Ren to the other side, Pyrrha chimed in with one more thing, "Um, Nora?"

"Yes?" Nora chirped as she stopped and look up to her right towards Pyrrha.

"Can I burrow Magnhild for a minute?"

Nora seemed a bit sceptical at first by Pyrrha's request, but when she looked back at the barbed wire and Ren, Nora eventually realised that she was going to get snagged by her grenade launcher if she did not get it off her back beforehand.

"Sure…uh, go ahead." Nora granted, which all she did was lay prone on the ground for a moment as Pyrrha unslung the grenade launcher from Nora's back and held it.

"Ren." Pyrrha notified as she saw Ren stand up from the snow on the other side of the barbed wire, "Catch this."

Using both her arms to chuck Magnhild onto the other side of the barbed wire, Pyrrha barely managed to make the grenade launcher clear the barbed wire as Ren caught the weapon with both his hands and briefly grunted.

"Thanks." Ren stoically blessed as he laid Magnhild in the snow gently and proceeded to put his ushanka back on his head.

At the same time, Nora was more than halfway across the barbed wire when Pyrrha began to make her crawl as well. Thanks to Ren and Nora, both team members left behind a trail of partially flatten snow within the clearance, which only made Pyrrha's day better since she was now going to be the last one to clear the barbed wire. Plus, with her sword and shield still on her back, Pyrrha could only be thankful, since the flatten snow also provided a couple extra centimetres of clearance, which was more than enough to prevent her weapons from being caught in the gnarly and twisted jungle of menacing barbed steel cables.

Wasting no time to make it to the other side of the barbed wire, Pyrrha waited until Nora cleared her legs from the barbed wire before she began her crawl. With her aura up temporarily, the cold and wet surface of the snow under her torso and limbs were merely deflected as she slowly but surely crawled her way to what looked like she was sneaking her way to freedom. Though unlike Ren and Nora, Pyrrha's long red hair was a danger to herself as much as her sword and shield was on her back, since her hair could actually get caught in the barbs if she cared little to her surroundings and did not keep her head down.

Ren and Nora waited on the other side of the barbed wire fence for Pyrrha before she eventually emerged and patted herself off of any snow accumulated on her improvised winter attire. Even if Pyrrha was wearing one of Jaune's spare hoodies and as well as an extra pair of jeans over her usual attire, her bronze armour underneath may have allowed her to far more easily slide across the snow as she crawled under the barbed wire; however, her armour made her leg movement rather limited. Luckily, just like Ren and Nora before her, Pyrrha crawled by letting her arms do the work and instead letting herself drag her legs and feet.

"That went well." Nora plainly commented as she adjusted her ushanka and watching Pyrrha stand up from the snow.

"Indeed." Ren added stoically as he handed Nora back her grenade launcher.

"I probably stay the same." Pyrrha agreed as well as she briefly composed herself, "But let's not waste any more time. We got to find Jaune as soon as we can. If he isn't here, we'll give him another call. How does that sound?"

Ren and Nora nodded their heads in agreement before Pyrrha added one more thing, "Oh and let's not forget, we are to inflict the least damage as possible to anyone we find out here. Otherwise, let's get this show on the road."

"Oh with pleasure!" Nora excitedly giggled, while Ren nodded quietly; however, as soon as team (J)NPR took their first half dozen steps into No Man's Land, a shot rang out from out of nowhere.

Ren instantly fell to the ground on his buttocks when a full-sized rifle bullet slammed into his right shoulder. Luckily, because of his aura, he managed to shrug off the hit as if a heavyweight boxer smacked him with a high-powered sucker punch; however, the bullet that hit Ren without any warning left him mildly stinging pain in his right shoulder. Of course he knew how it was to get shot, this particular bullet that hit him was unusual since ordinary dust bullet usually bounce off and leave the huntsman/huntress unharmed and otherwise shaken, but being left with a notable sting by such a bullet was not supposed to happened even if the user brought his/her aura up.

In reaction to the hit, Ren immediately clutched his right shoulder with his left hand as he sat in the snow and leaving Pyrrha and Nora on full alert. Quite unfortunately, neither Pyrrha or Nora had no idea of the injuries that Ren inflicted from the gunshot, and nor did they have time to attend to Ren's injuries either when they looked in the direction of where the shot may have come from. Beyond the tree line at about 50 metres away from the barbed wire fences, Pyrrha and Nora could barely distinguish the shape of a small war-torn church in the distance, which was surrounded by a cluster of moderately damaged houses (with their roofs nothing more but cold wooden skeletons along with their chimneys standing as bare cold monoliths) kept within the confinements of a moderately damaged stone wall.

"Come on! We can get to those houses for cover!" Pyrrha barked as she and Nora helped Ren up and rushing towards the tree line to find cover from the would-be sniper.

"Ren, are you okay?" Nora asked to her partner with a mixture of concern and slight happiness in her voice.

"I'm fine." Ren grunted as he, Nora, and Pyrrha ran across the snow and towards the tree line in front of them, "We need to find cover."

Unbeknownst to Nora and Pyrrha during the heat of the first contact, Ren was clutching his right shoulder not because it was bleeding, but because of the mild stinging pain that he received from being hit by the full-sized rifle bullet.

"Hmm..." Ren grumbled quietly yet calmly to the pain in his right shoulder as he and Nora ran passed the trees all around them.

Pyrrha followed very close to Ren and Nora as another bullet whizzed past her and slammed into a tree to her anterior left. Not a single member of team (J)NPR could start shooting back at the unknown shooter(s) if they can't see them, and nor could they start exploring any further without knowing what and where are the threats in No Man's Land. This was probably the worst news for Nora yet, since she could not use her grenade launcher to fire back at the shooter(s) firing down upon team (J)NPR; however, this mission perimeter was meant with good reasoning if it was given by both Glynda and Ozpin themselves.

Unfortunately, when team (J)NPR finally dashed through the trees and the wall, and up towards the wooden door of a house, Pyrrha nearly fell backwards when she charged at the wooden door and it barely budged by her own strength and weight. Though with team (J)NPR under fire by an unknown sniper, and with Ren possibly wounded from the unexpected gunshot, Pyrrha persevered by taking a step back and takes enough nerve and strength with her right boot to kick open the door. Luckily, with a hard crackle from the door and the shattered boards as well, Pyrrha placed her right boot back in the snow for a moment before she, Ren, and Nora rushed inside the house.

The interior started out with a staircase to the right leading upstairs to the second floor (which did not appear much due to the war-torn tiles and exposed wooden framework of the roof). Directly ahead from the door and to the left of the stairs, there was a kitchen that had two boarded-up windows and a counter to the right; however, there was nothing left inside other than a scorched oven, a shattered sink, and the plastering on the wall that was riddled with bullet holes and shrapnel holes. And to the right down aside from the kitchen, there was a dining room that served as a living room; however, the room suffered a similar fate to the kitchen; there was a boarded-up window and bullet holes in the walls, but there was the addition of ruined wooden furniture, such as, a small round dining table, four small wooden chairs, a ruined green couch, and fireplace covered with soot and ash as well as wood fragments.

Despite the war-torn appearance of the house itself, team (J)NPR could only consider such an improvised residence in No Man's Land as their only means of shelter and safety from the unknown sniper outside. While Pyrrha proceeded to catch her breath upon entering the gloomy and mostly ransacked dining/living room, Nora helped Ren sit down on what remained of the ruined green couch. Quite frankly for all three members of team (J)NPR, there was no way that either member was going to run beyond the safety of the house, since the only thing that separate team (J)NPR from the sniper outside was the boarded-up windows and the walls of the house (in spite of the bullet holes that riddled all almost every single wall).

"Only if Jaune was here, he would come up with something quickly…being the genius he is." Pyrrha commented as she looked through the slits of boarded-up windows.

"Indeed." Ren added as he kept clutching his right shoulder and looking at Pyrrha to his slight right in front of him, "And if only we knew how team RWBY is holding up in this kind of situation as well."

Pyrrha turned her head to the left behind her towards Ren and gave her reply back to him, "Who knows. They may or may not…,"

Ren and Nora looked at Pyrrha as if she was trying to catch her breath at the moment; however, quite unexpectedly, Pyrrha's facial expression morphed into concern when she saw Ren still clutching his right shoulder. Ren had no time to react or comprehend what Pyrrha was worried about, and neither was Nora, when Pyrrha expressed her concern towards him, "Ren, are you really okay?"

Ren only nodded his head in agreement, but to his dismay, Nora finally noticed Ren clutching his right shoulder; however, it was Pyrrha that that demanded to see his injuries with determination omitting from her voice, "Ren, usually you can shrug something like that off with ease, but with the way you're clutching your right shoulder, you don't well as you think. Let me see your shoulder."

Finally, after a brief moment of silent denial upon looking at both Pyrrha and Nora, Ren finally undid the upper clips on his tailcoat and tucked the black undershirt to the right to reveal the damage underneath. As it turns out, to add on top of Ren's dismay, when he looked down at his right shoulder, it became apparent that Ren's right shoulder was left with a red bruise that covered most of his shoulder blade and clavicle bone, and threatened to spread towards his right upper lungs. Although alive and sitting without even flinching to the mildly stinging pain in his right shoulder, Pyrrha and Nora thought otherwise as they saw the true extent of his injuries.

"Not bad." Nora said hesitantly as she eyed the red bruise on Ren's right shoulder, "But…, you're going need some real bandages for that soon. I've seen some real damage before, but I have to tell you…, that's not supposed to happen."

"Yeah." Ren muttered as he looked at the bruise on his right shoulder and while keeping his clothing clear from it, "I'm not bleeding of course, but this is going to inhibit my ability to fight by a margin, if I'm completely honest."

"I mean; you can still fight." Pyrrha assured as she stood away from the boarded-up window and standing to the right of Nora, "But you got to make sure that you're not facing the enemy with your right shoulder. If whoever shot you can do that to you, then it is best that we stick to cover and keep our heads low."

"Aw man…, only if we weren't restricted to nonlethal force, I would've been happy to break the legs of whoever shot my little Ren." Nora complained in addition to Pyrrha's new commands.

"That's understandable, Nora." Ren initially assured; however, his voice was calm yet still in some slight pain from the shoulder bruise, "But being that we have no idea what's in No Man's Land, the last thing we all do out here is to kill someone."

"He's right, you know." Pyrrha agreed as she had her arms crossed, "And speaking of No Man's Land, I don't think we're going have an easy time traversing through this place beyond this point."

"So…," Ren began in what looked like he was asking his first question, "What's the plan then?"

 ** _=====][=====_**

 **10:40am** **-** **Earlier**

 **Meanwhile** **,** **Team RWBY**

The sound of bushes rustling echoed faintly below the canopy of the snow-sprinkled deciduous trees of the Emerald Forest, not before the groan of a familiar voice followed.

"Yang, can we slow down?" Ruby complained as the rustling finally died down shortly, "May I remind you that I'm carry a hundred pounds of dead weight on my back?"

"Oh shut it, you little dolt." Weiss snapped back, "It's not like we've been scaling a mountain since the early morning. Do you always have to make such exaggerations?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Ruby countered, with her voice remaining whiny yet childish and slightly tired, "We've dashing through the snow for Oum knows how long, and so far, the silence has been killing me."

"I would partially agree with that." Yang added as she finally came into view through a small clearing in the snowy Emerald Forest, "I hate to say this, but I would mostly stick with Ice Queen on the other hand."

"Why, thanks." Weiss replied back with her voice being slightly aggressive yet mostly stern from having to deal with Ruby just moments ago, "Considering the fact that it be easier to suffer in silence than get caught in the crosshairs of a Grimm ambush."

"Well, whether we are extremely lucky or not, we haven't encounter any Grimm just yet." Blake chimed in as she joined up with the rest of team RWBY in the small clearing.

"Either that, or we may be speaking too soon, if I'm completely honest." Weiss admitted, but her arms were crossed which suggested otherwise through her body language.

"Speaking of honesty…," Yang intervened at that moment, "Does anyone know exactly where we are just now?"

"Don't worry, we're not too far away from No Man's Land." Ruby replied back with her scroll in both her hands, "I just hope we find something soon, or I swear I'm going to cry my eyes out from this endless boredom."

"Now, you know you're not going to cry your eyeballs. Right?" Yang playfully scrutinised her younger sister's choice of words, "Because by the time those tears come out, they're going to freeze on your face like…"

"Yang!" Ruby snapped in realisation of where her older sister's was taking this scrutinising warning, "It's not that cold out here, and neither are my tears going to freeze into icicles!"

"Well, say for the girl who goes nuts over any gun she can get her hands on." Yang dared with a playful voice.

At that point, however, Ruby had put her hands on the side of her hips and frowned at Yang with her own scrutinising voice tone, "Are you making fun of my little knack for guns? Because for crying out loud already, I made my dear Crescent Rose all by hand, and I have a right to say that I'm a professional marksman with my little baby."

"Whoa, take it easy, sis." Yang verbally backed away, as well as putting her hands up low to give Ruby that idea that Yang meant no serious harm in her speech, "We all made our weapons by hand as well you know, and I'm pretty sure Ice Queen has done the same."

Weiss grumbled audibly from Yang calling her by that nickname, and a moment had barely gone by when Yang continued to speak, "No offense, but as much as I want to seek adventure already, we have to remain focus upon getting towards the objective before actually finding anything."

"She's right, you know." Weiss agreed in the background, which now placed Ruby in a defeated situation, "How much clearer do you have to get with this?"

"I guess…maybe I'm overreacting a bit..." Ruby sighed as she relieved her hands from her own hips.

"Well, it's only been like…what? Half an hour since we all regrouped?" Yang nodded, "So it's only fair that we keep going, and then we can find something after all this time. How that's sound?"

"Hmm…sure thing." Ruby agreed with a sheepish voice tone; however, that attitude merely disintegrated when the rustling of snow-laden bushes was heard again in front of team RWBY, only for the only lifeform to emerge be none other than Blake.

"Blake?" Weiss questioned, with her voice a mixture of concern and suspicion, "Where did you…?"

Then it was at that moment that Weiss took a look down at the ground briefly to find that Blake's shoeprints in the snow had lead away from the team RWBY. If one were to not know any better, Blake's shoeprints may have been mistaken for either of the other first-year huntresses that made up team RWBY; however, Weiss could tell that Blake had apparently walked away from the group when no one was looking. The shoeprints had lead away to the slight left and into the forest again, and from there, Blake's shoeprints could no longer be seen in the distance due to the snow and the foliage (whether it be on the trees or on the ground).

"I don't mean to alarm any of you guys, but I don't think we need to go any further." Blake announced to team RWBY upon seeing Weiss avert her attention back to her.

"Any further?" Ruby questioned rather confused from Blake's announcement, "We have less than a mile until we reach No Man's Land according to the coordinates."

"Ruby, Yang, Weiss…," Blake said, only this time her voice became grim as she spoke, "You need to follow me and see this for yourselves. We don't need to go any farther for No Man's Land, because it's directly ahead of us."

Before completing the last part of her sentence, at the same time, Blake had pointed her finger in the direction behind her and into the forest. Of course, she shifted her body for a moment to emphasis the direction she was giving by her left index finger; however, her head remained entirely focused upon team RWBY within the small clearing itself. Unfortunately, even the given information, Ruby gave her insistence with her scroll still in her hands.

"Blake, look at the map for a quick moment." Ruby began as she walked up to Blake and showed her the digital map upon the scroll, "The coordinates are directing us to continue a little more northeast, towards the upper edge of the map. If you're insisting that we take your way, then we're going off course."

"Ruby, you have to trust me." Blake countered with a voice mixed with an unsettling worry, "I know where we're going. You guys need to follow me for a moment, and then you'll know what I mean afterwards."

Ruby remained quiet for a moment as if she was pondering upon Blake's proposal; however, before having any attempt to come up with another counter or even an agreement, Yang gave Blake the initiative with a simple command.

"Lead the way, Blakey." Yang agreed with a partially teasing yet happy voice tone, "If you want us to see what you found, then show us. We'll get back on track in no time after this."

"I guess I'm coming too." Weiss grumbled, not as remark of anger or annoyance, but most largely as a sarcastic thought being said out loud.

Ruby, on the other hand, shrugged her shoulders briefly before she agreed as well, but her attitude was mostly sheepish, "Very well then. It won't hurt much."

From there, team RWBY remained quiet as Blake took the lead and bringing the entire team into the forest again. With only the electronic swoosh sound of Ruby's scroll closing within the small clearing, team RWBY disappeared into the cover of the snowy Emerald Forest, but the gentle sound of their boots trudging through the snow gave away their locations rather easily with someone retaining a keen sense of hearing. With Blake in the lead, and with Ruby, Yang, and Weiss trailing behind rather closely, the team continued to walk through the forest without saying a word, and it was only a couple minutes later that team RWBY finally emerged on the other side of the forest…but...it was not a sight that neither huntress was prepared for in almost every manner.

Excluding Blake, team RWBY was met with an apocalyptic scene that only could have been conceived in a fictional fantasy horror story, and such a scene was met with the reception that can only classified as shock, awe, horror, and fear. Blake retained at least a partial sense of horror in her eyes, which paled in comparison to the horror left upon Ruby's horrifically shell-shocked facial expression. Yang and Weiss were almost no different than Ruby, as they too stood merely frozen in place with facial expressions consisted of a primary mixture of disbelief and shock.

Standing before team RWBY were two 121cm tall continuous fences that were tangled in a jungle of barbed steel cables, snow, ice, and wooden stakes; however, the fences were not what made team RWBY stood as if they were a bunch of deer in the headlights. On the other side of the endless line of barbed wire fences, there was a continuously linear trench that that had wooden boards and sheets of metal that kept away the dirt and snow that accumulated on the surface, and there were strange bag-like sacks that were stacked up on each other as if they were meant to create an addition makeshift barricade for the trench. In addition, there was a thin barbed wire fence that stood in front of the trench, with some areas of the wire being destroyed, which became evident by the sight of small craters; however, this was not the only trench that retained these kind of characteristics.

Every now and then, there were linear trenches that extended outwards towards other trenches as well, specifically two more trenches in the distance. There was a merely identical trench in the middle, and out in the front, there was the last trench, which was different in which it was zigzagging like soundwaves on an oscilloscope. Interestingly, the land that stood in between these trenches were littered with craters that were covered in snow, loose dirt, wood fragments, and puddles of ice cold water; however, these crater were small in comparison to what laid out in front of the forward trench.

Far out beyond the barbed wire fences and the trench, there were even larger craters that were the size of Ursa Majors and Alpha Beowolves. Just like the small and tiny craters located in between the trenches, these large craters were no different, since they too had loose dirt, snow, shards of wood, and puddles of water. Fortunately, some of the smaller puddles were frozen into ice, but this did little to assure team RWBY of the eerie atmosphere and mood of their first taste of entering into such a nightmarish scene. What's even more unfortunate for team RWBY was the fact that not only was the scene littered with craters, but there was an additional detail that made everyone react in disgust.

Just like all the other trenches, the zigzagging trench out in the front had a barbed wire fence that stretched as far as where the trenches could go; however, entangled within the fences were the frozen corpses of what appeared to be dead riflemen. Some of the bodies were underneath the fence and otherwise looked as if they were attempting to crawl under the fence, while there were other bodies that fell right on top of the wire and looked as if they bleed to death. Though the worst thing that every member of team RWBY could ever see from those dead bodies were the fact the some of those bodies had whole limbs torn off from whatever kind of destruction that team RWBY could not imagine upon humans.

Luckily, there was no foul odour coming from the corpses due to the snow and ice that did their job to preserve the bodies; however, the absolute sight of seeing frozen dismembered limbs stuck in the barbed wire as well as corpses was enough to make team RWBY sick to their stomachs. Ruby herself found herself clutching her stomach with both her arms as if she was struck ingestion, but her stomach was churning and grumbling in pain and fear rather than out of starvation. Weiss, Blake, and Yang were able to retain their strength to keep their breakfasts in their intestines as they mustered the collective bravery and strength to view the destruction out before them.

Unfortunately, despite the superior bravery and strength, this did nothing to hold back some of the shocked curses from Yang, "Good mighty Oum, this is…awful…"

Weiss and Blake shared no comment at the moment as they continued to view the grisly warzone in front of them…initially…

"I think I need a moment." Weiss proposed humbly as she walked back into the forest for a moment before emerging back out somewhat composed; however, she immediately whimpered to find the same scene before her, "Oh god, it's still here. Please tell me if I'm really dreaming?"

"Guys, this is real." Blake said sternly to every member of team RWBY, "I don't know what else to you all about this…as much as I want to throw-up my morning breakfast."

"Blake." Yang snapped back rather disgusted by Blake's morbid commentary, "I think we might all have the same idea. I mean, probably not as bad like poor little Rubes over here."

Ruby said nothing as her throat began to slowly burn as if she had ingested burning motor oil. She was in dire need to vomit in response to the gargantuan murder scene beyond the confinements of the double barbed wire fence. With no bag, bucket, or any kind of container within reach, Ruby had no other choice but to cover her mouth using her right fist before walking out of sight into the trees and doing the only thing she could do in this state.

Weiss, Blake, and Yang in the meantime could only face their backs towards Ruby as they heard sound vomiting the contents of what used to be her morning breakfast as well as some of the bile from her stomach. Of course Yang, being Ruby's older sister, could attend to Ruby's sudden vomiting; however, the stench and sound of bile impacting the snow and wooden branches on the ground only went to sicken the stomachs of the rest of team RWBY. Weiss was the first to react in vulgar to Ruby vomiting in the background, "Good god, that stench!"

"Yeah, and if there was one thing I enjoy doing right now, it would be to get out of here ASAP." Yang added in with a serious tone, "I've seen some grisly things from time to time, but never will I take another minute looking at this place."

"Good idea." Weiss agreed as she kept her nose pinched to repel the foul odour of vomit where Ruby is located.

Blake did not say a word as she nodded her head; however, before taking the initiative to head back into the forest, she took out her scroll and had the courage to take a few pictures of the battlefield before them on the other side of the barbed wire fence. Although she took more than just a few pictures, Blake placed some emphasis within the dead corpses and limbs entangled out in the distant barbed wire fences located around the trenches. Of course, after taking such pictures, like the rest of team RWBY, the mere sight of dismembered limbs and mangled corpses was enough to eventually make her turn away from the battlefield and in the direction of the forest.

"Blake…, we're going with the coordinates given by Ozpin and Glynda." Ruby finally spoken upon catching her breath from vomiting, "Not a single one of us is going to be walking through those fences or even exploring those trenches."

"Got to agree with that, sis. There's not arguing with that kind of statement!" Yang agreed rather reluctantly as she and Weiss looked away from the battlefield as well, "Come on, let's go."

Weiss and Blake did not bother to say another word as they walked back into the forest and disappearing from sight once again.

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 **Review Response** **( s):**

 _RebelRaven4_ ( _Guest Review_ ) - "The Scottish, French, and Germans are able to understand each other through a combination of soldiers that can best understand all three languages (English, French, and German), and/or act as translators. Basically, the scouting groups are lead by a leading soldier who retains the greatest linguistic skills; meaning, anyone that can be able to best speak, read, and understand all three languages. Even so, the average soldier from all three sides can only understand the most basic commands (such as, greetings, numbers, movement, and etc), but when it comes to making plans, the three leading soldiers of each scouting group have to talk to each other and then relay the plans to their soldiers; however, for the Lieutenants from all three sides, it was best to create the scouting groups consisting of soldiers who could best understand all three languages at best."

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 **Author's Note** **(** **s** **):** Hello and Welcome back ladies and gentlemen for Chapter Five of this story. Well…heh, this is a bit awkward, but I like to wish you all a late Happy Thanksgiving (24th November 2016)! Now, I feel quite bad for not uploading this chapter any sooner, since I was planning on uploading this chapter on the night of Thanksgiving (just an hour before having dinner with my family); however, as I mentioned before, this story is not picking up the progress that I hoped for, and with the holidays coming so quickly in this time around, it was only morally logical and fair that I spent more time with my family than burn myself out upon my stories. Though make no mistake, I enjoy writing stories for you fellow readers out there, but when it comes to reality, one cannot entirely dedicate themselves to writing a good book in a matter of months (and some people may know how that might turn out, especially for Hergé; the same cartoonist who made the Adventures of Tintin). Well, I hope you all enjoy this story and I wish you all to stay tune for the next chapter, and from here on out, I will see you all until next time.


	6. Chapter 06

**RWBY** **:** **Dans le Nid d'Aigle**

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 **Chapter 06** **-** **Catastrophe et Soulagement**

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 **10:50am**

 **Emerald Forest** **,** **Jaune Arc**

Whether it was the gargantuan pain threatening to escape from his broken right leg or the shouting and shooting of the soldiers all around him, Jaune had categorised all these details into one specification. From right to left, forward and backwards, above and below him, there was chaos from every direction, and even if he was being carried by three grown men, he retained the feeling of a panorama view of the Emerald Forest all around him. From the Germans, French, and Scottish soldiers shooting back at the pursing Grimm, to the mixture of gibberish and English being said back and forth, Jaune only wished he could cover his ears so that he would not have to entirely hear the destruction occurring out of his sight; however, Jaune had other problems that he had to fight against as well.

With his aura half-depleted from suppressing the pain in his right leg, Jaune was struggling to keep his aura up for another minute as it began to slowly dim out of his control. At the same time, as he struggles to keep his aura up and supress the pain to the best of what his body can take, Jaune felt himself being moved across the snow by the combined three Scottish soldiers; Ferguson, Dale, and Bennet. Unfortunately, Ferguson in particular did very little to help Jaune's situation as he shouted back at the Germans, French, and as well as the two other unnamed Scottish soldiers behind him, "Andre, Emil, if you die, we all die and he dies! If you understand me, keep moving!"

The commanding soldiers of the corresponding scouting groups gave no reply back as the gunfire of battle rifles and the growling and howling of Beowolves destroy the tranquil silence of the once peaceful and sleeping Emerald Forest under the blankets of snow. To make matters worse, the situation was only worsening by the fact that the voices of the Germans, French, and Scottish soldiers conveyed their words and curses in collective fear from the menacing horde of the Grimm. Jaune did not have to see it to know what was going on, he can merely hear and metaphorically smell the fear and panic being unleashed by these riflemen as they run and gun with nothing more but their rifles and bayonets.

"Allons! Allons-y allons-y! Continuez à tirer!"

"Laufen und schießen!"

"Je ne veux pas mourir par ces choses!"

"Keep lightin' them up, lads!"

"Qu'est-ce que tu fais?!"

"Erschieße die Bastarde! Erschieß sie!"

If there was any example of pure chaos, Jaune would have a perfect example all around him; however, being that he was the hastily arranged arms of his rescuers, Jaune was merely helpless to rid of the pursuing Grimm behind him and all the riflemen. With pain being his own war to fight as well, Jaune had his blood being spilled upon his hands, and if he thought keeping his aura up and filtering out the shouting and shooting was quite an effort, there was another problem that threatened his very well being. Quite suddenly, Jaune did not realise that a black curtain was slowly closing downwards while his hearing was slowly tuning out the noise all around him; however, ever so suddenly…

"Stay awake, Johnny Boy!" Ferguson shouted at Jaune and apparently startling him awake, "We're going to get you out of here! You hear me?!"

Jaune only nodded his head in agreement, as his mouth grew increasingly numb and cold enough to where he could barely utter a mutter out from his lips.

"Come on, pick up the pace!" Ferguson shouted again, with Dale and Bennet being the apparent receiving ends of his commands, "We either lose him or he gets to see another day!"

Dale and Bennet did not share any words back to their commanding comrade as the warzone following the Scottish, Germans, and French grew increasing dire and…grim.

"Chercher! Chercher!" One of the French soldiers shouted repeatedly in a voice filled with panic and anger at his arsenal.

Suddenly, as quickly as the chatter rang out from this particular soldier, a horrifying sound erupted that failed miserably to stop everyone in their tracks except for Jaune.

"Écartez-les! Écartez…" Another fellow French soldier screamed in terror before the loud and ungodly noises of flesh began to squish and churn under the jaws of merciless Beowolves.

That very soldier's screaming was replaced by an inhuman voice that levelled on par to an innocent lamb being slaughtered for the benefit of one's next meal. Whether it was the screeching sound of cloth and flesh being torn apart, or the disturbing growling and ruffling of the Beowolves tearing the soldier's organs apart, Jaune really wished that he could deafen his ears from the chaos all around him. No one in their lifetime should ever have to hear the sounds of a man being eaten and consumed alive by any living creature, whether it be small or big, human or not, or even in war; not even being eaten alive by a bunch of hungry dogs was an exception either.

Although Jaune did not have to witness the grisly scene transpiring and fading away behind him and the rest of the riflemen, the sounds only made the situation ever so increasingly miserable and gruelling. He only wished that this situation be a nightmare that he could wake up from; however, being that he was struggling to keep himself conscious while in the protective hands of three grown men carrying him to safety, Jaune's heart could sink as he realised that he was not going to wake up from this hell on earth. Even if he did not have to see the blood and internal organs being spilled onto the snow, the stench of blood began to hang heavy in the air before the scent began to fade the further the Jaune was being taken to safety.

Unfortunately, another sound erupted not too far behind that now only made Jaune wanting to vomit his morning breakfast. A couple of the soldiers yelled in terror and extreme pain as the swipe from a Beowolf opened their stomachs and sending some unseen streams of blood splashing onto the snow and nearby trees, which made the scene increasingly grisly and graphic if Jaune ever had to look back and witness the destruction. The sound of the poor bastards' stomachs being opened was much like someone taking a box knife and cutting open a carton of milk with a single slash to the midsection, and thereby causing the contents to spill onto the walls and floor as if they were going to be simply soaked up like rain water.

As suddenly as the horrible deaths of those two soldiers came so quickly, Jaune was now wanting to vomit the breakfast sitting in his stomach, and without his hands at his disposal to hold back the urge, Jaune had no other choice other than to lift his head up to the best of his abilities and crane to the left to allow him to puke. Unfortunately, being that he was vomiting to the side, the contents of his stomach bile splashed onto Ferguson's boots and lower legs; however, as much as he felt the burning wet substance spill on him, he could only care little about the mess made on him as he, Dale, and Bennet remained focused on getting Jaune to safety and medical care as soon as possible. On the other hand, Jaune's act did not go entirely unnoticed, as a few surviving soldiers unintentionally stepped onto the small mangled trail of puke left behind.

"Shite! Who threw up their…"

"Achtung!"

"Que se passe-t-il!"

Ferguson's voice broke through the chaos ensuing behind him and went into the direction of Jaune, "Johnny Boy, you better get yourself together! The next time you blow onto me, we're leaving you out here! I'm sorry kid, but if you decide to be get sick on us, we ain't taking any more chances out here! Do you hear me?!"

Jaune only nodded his head in agreement as he coughed lightly and shrugged himself in order to remain conscious and aware of his surroundings. The enormous pain in his right leg was threatening to make itself a force to be reckoned with to Jaune as his aura began to fall under a dangerously low level. Whether he should be in greater pain in hearing and smelling the sickening stench of death behind him and the fleeing soldiers all around him, or the monolithic pain leaking through his aura like seawater on a ship, Jaune did not know what to do at this point as he was being carted away to the distant confinements of the safety and medical promised by the Scottish, Germans, and French soldiers combined.

"Incoming!" Yelled one of the Scottish soldiers as he ran ahead of Jaune, Ferguson, Dale, and Bennet, and subsequently let out a single gunshot from his Lee-Enfield rifle.

Subsequently, Jaune felt a merely abrupt jolt from Ferguson, Dale, and Bennet stopping dead in their tracks from the fellow Scottish Fusilier firing upon an incoming pair of Beowolves. The pained wheezes of the Beowolves were heard loudly yet briefly as the Scottish soldier fired upon them and saving Jaune and his rescuer's lives for the moment. Unfortunately, the sudden stop made Jaune even sicker to his stomach, and being that he had just vomited moments ago, Jaune let out a rather inaudible yet distasteful groan before his rescuers began to move again.

"God speed be with us." Dale muttered to himself as he kept his arms looped around Jaune's right shoulder and lifting him off the ground using every strength he had left in his body.

Suddenly, an aggressive howl erupted from the slight left from the thicket of the bushes and trees as a Beowolf pounced with such blistering speed and grace.

"Fu…!" Ferguson barely cursed as he, Bennet, Dale, and Jaune were slammed backwards with the equivalent force as if they were all being hit by a racing car.

The sudden appearance of the Beowolf was quickly followed by Jaune slamming his back into the snow, and hearing the pained and surprised grunts of Ferguson, Bennet, and Dale falling backwards as well; however, Jaune's luck could only get increasingly worse, when Bennet fell right on top of Jaune's right lower leg and knee.

Not surprisingly, Jaune yelled out loud in sudden immense pain from Bennet falling right on top of his right lower leg, and it did not help with the fact that Bennet's Lee-Enfield rifle slung on his back made the situation any better either. The upper part of the rifle slammed on top of Jaune's right hip and pelvis, which only amplified the pain Jaune's right leg up to seismic readings; however, the full brunt of the pain was brief, as a lesser stinging pain clung onto Jaune's leg like sizzling oil. Luckily, these were the only injuries inflected by his rescuers falling onto him; however, Ferguson and Dale were not in any better position than Jaune or Bennet.

"David!" Ferguson warned in a panicky yet angry voice tone, which only drew Jaune into turning his head to the anterior right.

The Beowolf had apparently rolled not too far to the right from Jaune and his rescuers after making its partially failed attempt to pounced all four warriors in one swift move. Unfortunately, the very same Scottish soldier from earlier had been knocked clear to the left of the Beowolf, but because of the Beowolf kicking up snow, loose foliage, and dirt from rolling across the ground, the soldier was left mostly buried under a reasonable layer of debris. Worst of all, upon taking the best glance at the poor soldier, as the Scottish soldier was lying in the snow, and it turned out that the soldier had his right arm slashed wide open…thereby leaving a pool of blood to ooze onto the snow.

Fortunately, before the Beowolf could completely get up and finish off the poor Scottish soldier, a couple of the surviving Germans managed to gun down the suicidal Beowolf with a volley of six shots to the anterior top of its head. But even with the immensely appreciated assistance from the Germans, the Scottish soldier had already been sobbing in pain from having his right arm cut open like if it was a stick of cheese. The Germans generously provide covering fire for the poor soldier bleeding miserably from his right arm; however, the sound of the soldier yelling in repeated pain could not be deafened no matter what Jaune did.

He could not undo the sight of such a grisly injured endured by a Beowolf making a hasty slash to the right arm or any other limbs that it can devour. If only he had the energy, Jaune would have crawled over to the horrifically bleeding soldier and made his best attempt to unlock his aura, and thereby saving the poor Scottish fusilier's life; however, with that thought suddenly brought to mind, Jaune reconsidered about unlocking everyone's aura. Instead, Jaune could only watch the mortally wounded soldier slowly bleed and freeze to his death, even with the Germans and nearby French were to rush to his aid, there was not much anyone could do other than to field dress the gnarly arm slash.

"Bastard." Ferguson cursed under his breath, before he diverted his attention to Jaune; however, before a second could even transpire, Ferguson's voice was filled with panic, "Oh god, no! Bennet! Jaune!"

Bennet was sitting up from falling on top of Jaune's right leg when he heard Ferguson and subsequently turned towards his fellow comrade just in time to properly hear his warning.

"In front of you!"

Before Bennet or Jaune could completely divert their attention to what was in front of them, there was a loud and deafening roar coming from a pair of Ursa Minors straight ahead of Jaune, Bennet, Dale, and Ferguson. The size, height, and shape of the Ursa Minors was nothing new to Jaune; however, to the Germans, French, and Scottish Fusiliers who froze up in immediate fear of the menacing roars of the Ursa Minors, it was simply a terrifying sight. Not surprisingly, the three German soldiers that came to the rescue of the mortally wounded Scottish soldier opened fire upon the two Ursa minors; however, almost to everyone's dismay (except for Jaune's annoyance), the 7.92x57mm Mauser rounds failed to penetrate the armour of both Ursa Minors, specifically the head and face.

"What the hell are those things?" Bennet cursed out loud as he took control of the Lee-Enfield rifle that was slung on his right shoulder and joined the firefight with the Germans.

Jaune made a pained grunt as he slowly yet surely rested his left hand onto Bennet's left shoulder and uttered out the answer, "Ursa…Minors. Aim…everywhere else…, except the head."

"Fergus, we could use some here!" The heavily accented French voice of Andre hollered from behind Bennet and Jaune.

"Bugger…" Ferguson muttered inaudibly, with his voice filled with frustration and a small hint of panic; however, he immediately spoke out loud again, particularly to Dale and Bennet, "Bennet, stay with Jaune. Dale, come with me!"

Dale did not have to say a word as he obediently and decisively followed Ferguson's orders upon he and Fergus lifting themselves off the ground and running towards Andre and the remaining French soldier that accompanied him. On the bright side of the situation, Emil and a single German soldier were providing covering fire for what remained of the French scouting party; however, being that the French and Germans were almost virtually sitting ducks from the Scottish and Jaune stopping in place, the Beowolves kept coming in seemingly endless waves. Without the assistance of a machine gun, the Germans and French were literally firing their bolt action rifles in rapid successions, but in doing so for both sides (and as well as a lone unnamed Scottish soldier standing alongside as well), everyone was running low on ammunition.

"Töte die Bären! Töte sie!" One of the Germans barked as he and his two other fellow comrades kept opening fire upon the Ursa Minors down range with little luck.

"Bennet…" Jaune uttered, with pain boiling strong in his voice, "Those Ursas…are closing in. Get down."

"Not with you here, mate!" Bennet snapped back as he rapid operated the bolt action on his Lee-Enfield rifle, "I'm the only thing that stands between you and death! You want to really die out here?!"

"Bennet!" Jaune snarled with the remaining energy he had left to suppress the pain in his right leg, "Just…listen to me."

"I can't do…" Bennet said mid-sentence when suddenly there was an empty click that came from his Lee-Enfield rifle.

"Shite." Bennet grumbled out loud as he opened the bolt back up and struggled to get the first clip of five rounds into his rifle, "Come on…"

Jaune could only hear the incoming footsteps of the Ursa Minors charging at him and the Germans (who were busy protecting the same wounded Scottish soldier from earlier), and looking at Bennet's situation, he and Jaune were going to be the Ursa Minors' first target. Even though the Germans were shooting their Mauser rifles in the quickest rate of fire as possible, the Ursa Minors cared less about the Germans and decided to feast their eyes upon the already weak, vulnerable, and the unguarded target, Jaune. Although the full-sized rifle cartridges from both the Mausers and Lee-Enfield were putting some serious cracks in the Ursa Minors' armour plating, and even some of those shots being imbedded in their fur hide, neither of the two Ursa Minors were stopping at all…which only gave Jaune the initiative.

Without any warning, as Bennet slipped his right hand in getting the second clip into his rifle, Jaune took Crocea Mors from his back, and instead of using the sword, Jaune used his right hand to wrap around Bennet's chest and thereby allowing Jaune to raise his shield in front of him and Bennet…barely. Almost unfortunately, Bennet cursed out loud in response to Jaune's actions as he subsequently dropped his rifle in surprise, but Jaune cared less about a fully grown man snarling at him and endangering his own safety in exchange for Jaune's own protection. Though on the other hand, when Bennet saw Jaune's heater-shaped shield being raised in front of him, Bennet suddenly let go of his jammed Lee-Enfield rifle and placed his hands behind the shield to reinforce it just in time for the leading Ursa Minor to swipe his pawn onto the shield.

Although Jaune was an unbelievable pain, he still had a small amount of his aura left as it slowly depleted; however, using that very same amount of aura, Jaune merely depleted his entire aura in protecting him and preventing Bennet from turning into a bloody mess of flesh and cloth. The Ursa's strike was identical to the Ursa Major that Jaune took on back at Forever Falls, but being that these were Ursa Minors, the strike was weak in comparison, but the brief shockwave from the strike was enough for Bennet to merely cower in fear behind Jaune's shield. Fortunately, to Jaune and Bennet's relief, just shortly after the Ursa made its failed attempt at drawing first blood, the Ursa suddenly slumped to Jaune and Bennet's right and sat lifelessly in the snow never to get up again.

Jaune was looking at the Ursa's corpse and saw right away that the Germans had apparently been firing at the Ursa's much weaker spots, specifically the hind legs and belly. Unfortunately, the other Ursa Minor was still making its last attempt to inflict some heavy damage that its partner failed to do upon first strike; however, just as the Germans were training their sights upon the lone Ursa Minor, the sound of a bladed weapon crunching into the anterior side of the Ursa grumbled and merely freezing the Ursa standing in place on its hind legs. Almost immediately, the once calculating yet fearful facial expressions of the Germans slowly morphed into confused and/or curious frowns as they pointed their Mauser rifles at the idling Ursa before it fell forward to reveal its killer.

"Hey…" Jaune muttered feebly as he saw the Ursa Minor's killer to be Blake Belladonna, "Blake."

There stood Blake standing behind the corpse of the second/last Ursa Minor with Gambol Shroud thrown its back in manner as if Blake treated her weapon like grappling hook. Because of Blake's Intruder outfit was modified with a short double-breasted trench coat and knee-high flat heeled jackboots, the Germans were giving Blake some curious facial expressions before they found themselves in moment of looking at each as if their eyes were playing tricks on themselves. In the ensuing behaviour, Jaune found it strange that the Germans were confused about Blake's makeshift winter attire; however, that was his last thought that coursed through his head before he finally slumped backwards into the snow with his shield still on his left arm.

"Aye, thanks…" Bennet gratefully complimented, not knowing Jaune's condition at the moment, "What would've become of me without you?"

At the same time, Blake had retracted Gambol Shroud from the dead Ursa Minor's back and wasted no time in dashing past the corpse and the Germans at lighting speed towards the Beowolves.

"Wunderbar..." One of the Germans uttered in both awe and disbelief as he and the two other Germans watched Blake sprinting towards the Beowolves; whom were still coming in relentless waves towards what remained of the French (Andre and an unnamed soldier), the Germans (Emil and an unnamed soldier), and the two Scottish soldiers (Ferguson and Dale).

Jaune could only turn his head towards the defenders and Blake, as she threw herself into the fray in front of the Germans, French, and Scottish Fusiliers, and immediately preceding to parry the backwards swipe of a Beowolf.

"Eh, where did that come from?" The unnamed Scottish soldier cursed out loud, specifically Blake.

"The hell with it, lads!" Ferguson barked back as he proceeded to shoot an incoming Beowolf in the head, "Keep shooting!"

"Au moins nous pouvons utiliser l'aide supplémentaire!" Andre added as he cycled the action of his 1886 Lebel rifle and continued to hurl hot lead down range at the Beowolves.

Every soldier that was firing at the Beowolves were either standing or kneeling in the snow, whether it was the common soldier or the commanding soldier of each scouting party. The Germans and Scottish were able to hurl a wall of deadly yet slow firepower down range thanks to their superbly engineered Mauser and Lee-Enfield rifles, but the French were able to pick off the most vulnerable areas of the Beowolves (such as, the legs, arms, and shoulders). In the process, despite the bodies of the Beowolves dissipating into the wind and snow like ash (according to the Germans, French, and Scottish), it was not long until an Alpha Beowolf fell victim to the deadly curtain of lead in the distance.

Although Jaune could only lie in the snow and watch the defence turn for the better, he now could find the moment to rest and deal with the pain irradiating from his broken right leg. Even if Bennet and the three other Germans were there as his only defence, Jaune could only care less about them for the time being as he slowly shut his eyes and accepting the perpetually stinging pain…much to his own dying dismay and anger. With the remainder of his aura depleted from protecting Bennet from the incoming strike of the Ursa Minor, Jaune was no longer in any condition to keep going while in immense pain and suffering from his broken right leg.

"Jaune?" Bennet stammered as he turned towards Jaune, "Are you…?"

By this time, Jaune had already began to close his eyes and fall unconscious by the time Bennet finally turned his head and body towards Jaune and assessed the damage.

"Jaune!" Bennet barked in a critical level of concern as he briefly got to his knees and getting to Jaune's right side, "Jaune, can you hear me?"

"Bennet, what the hell is going on over there?" Ferguson shouted back from afar as he operated the bolt action on his Lee-Enfield rifle.

"Jaune, come on!" Bennet panicked as he checked for any of Jaune's basic vital signs, "He's not breathing, sire!"

"Son of a…!" Ferguson cursed to himself before he abrupt left Dale and the others to fend off against the Beowolves, "Remove his armour, I'm on my way."

Immediately without saying another word, Bennet took out his bayonet knife and quickly severed the leather straps that held Jaune's armour in place. Starting with the breastplate and back plate, Bennet managed to hastily cut the leather straps just when Ferguson rushed to his aid, and not before he subsequently pulled the breastplate off Jaune's body. At the same time, Ferguson had assisted Bennet by sitting Jaune up for a moment and allowing for Bennet to not only pull off the breastplate, but also the back plate as well and toss them to the side.

With the sound of the armour plates clunking softly into the snow, Bennet dropped his bayonet knife in the snow next to Jaune's body before Ferguson laid Jaune back down and proceeded to resuscitate him; however, before he could get Jaune's respiratory system running again, the sounds of leafs rustling and snow crunching broke Ferguson and Bennet's attention from Jaune and look towards the tree line again.

"Jesus Christ…" Ferguson cursed inaudibly, this time with his voice filled with extremely coarse anger while he stood up and armed himself with his Lee-Enfield rifle and fixed his bayonet on it.

"You bastard of the Earth! Fight me!" Ferguson shouted with the same anger as he stood in a defensive stance, "If thou want us, ye goin' hath to get through me!"

Unfortunately, Ferguson's anger was rendered all for nothing when an Ursa Minor finally fell forward just before Ferguson; apparently battered and worn out by a previous confrontation. Still, Ferguson walked right up to the Ursa Minor's corpse and wasted no time in sinking the bayonet into the nape of the Ursa Minor to make sure that the beast was dead. Not surprisingly, as quickly as Ferguson's anger arose, it immediately morphed into confusion upon Ferguson removing the rifle and bayonet from the Ursa Minor's corpse.

Suddenly, when Ferguson turned his head to the left back towards the tree line standing directly before him, Jaune, and Bennet, there was the rapid firing sound of shotguns and miniature explosions echoing in the distance before the pained growl of another Ursa Minor came closer and closer towards Ferguson's direction. Without having to look through the snow mottled bushes, Ferguson dropped his rifle and merely threw himself in the opposition direction towards Jaune and Bennet. Although landing short and hitting the snow rather roughly, Ferguson swiftly crawled on top of Jaune's body and catching Bennet off guard as he briefly backed away in confusion; however, before putting his hands on top of his garrison cap, Ferguson shouted at Bennet with one chilling command.

"Get down, damn you!"

Bennet immediately threw his upper body over most of Jaune's face just in time for the corpse of an Ursa Minor to smash through the tree line and flying right over them with wooden shards and snow sprinkling onto them. The fireless explosion of trees being ripped the pieces boomed from behind Ferguson as the Ursa Minor's body came crashing into the snow behind Bennet; however, Ferguson, Bennet, and Jaune were not the only ones token off guard by the dead Ursa Minor's dramatic entry. The three German soldiers that were attending to the Scottish soldier with the gnarly arm slash from earlier had to hastily get themselves and the Scottish soldier to cover behind a tree as the Ursa Minor's corpse slid across the snow and stopping just barely a meter short of the tree trunk.

Then, the loud yet lively mechanical sounds of a pump action being cycled clanked from the trees before a blonde female figure emerged from the tarnished snow-laden bushes. Ferguson and Bennet lifted their heads and looked at the blonde female, before taking note of her attire. She was wearing grey cargo pants secured by a leather belt (with the lower half tucked into her brown leather knee-high boots), a dark khaki single-breasted coat (along with the sleeves partially rolled up to make way for what looked like armoured golden gauntlets on her wrists), and an orange scarf; and if Jaune was awake to make identification, this woman was none other than Yang Xiao Long in her makeshift winter attire.

"Talk about making an entry for that…thing." Bennet grunted as he lifted himself from Jaune before diverting his speech to Yang, "And my, aren't you screaming bloody murder. Who are you?"

"What do you think you're doing to him?" Yang hissed as she saw Jaune's body lying underneath Ferguson and Bennet, "You got ten seconds to explain, or else you'll end up like those Ursas."

"Excuse me!?" Ferguson snapped back, whom he was taken back by Yang's demands, "In case it's not obvious enough, we're risking our lives to save his arse! If you wish to fight us, then he's without our help! We don't even know if he's dead or alive at this point!"

Even though half a minute had barely gone by, Yang was immediately struck with grief as she ingested Ferguson's decisive yet angry and brief explanation. She was about to explode into anger had Ferguson or Bennet not emphasis their importance to Jaune's survival out in the now snowy Emerald Forest; however, the worst news bit of the information that took Yang back the greatest was the fact that neither Ferguson or Bennet knew if Jaune was alive or not. She only had to look at Jaune's body buried under the cover of Ferguson and Bennet to feel the same like the two Scottish soldiers before her.

"If you wish to kill us for him, then do it!" Ferguson threatened as he retained anger in his voice as if he was wishing to die, "We've been shot at, frozen, eaten, and even smashed by big hungry bears, and it's only fair if you end this madness for us if you wish! Unless not, then do us a favour and take care of those damn werewolves over there!"

Ferguson pointed his left finger above Bennet and towards the Germans, French, and Dale that were fending off the Beowolves; however, when Ferguson looked at the warzone in where he pointed his finger, he was shocked by what he saw in the distance. Instead of what looked like the last stand for all three sides against the Beowolves, Ferguson and Bennet were met with a scene that looked more like a spectacle of colours and the sweet taste of relief; which could not be made any more evident by the fact that not only was there a black blur decimating the Beowolves, but there was a red blur as well that joined the fight. Andre, Emil, Dale, and the other soldiers that were once shooting at the Beowolves stood in what appeared to be amazement as they watched the Beowolves be sliced and diced like heads of cabbage and lettuce by the black and red blurs.

"Or…at least, what used to werewolves." Bennet muttered in awe and disbelief as he watched the firefight eventually turn for the better.

Ferguson only shook his head and sighed at the same time upon ingesting the scene as well, and he eventually let his right hand droop onto Bennet and Jaune's body before giving out a shameful sigh, "All of that anger…for nothing, eh?"

Suddenly, Jaune's left hand grabbed onto Ferguson's left forearm that had enough force and speed to startle both Ferguson and Bennet; however, it was when both Scottish soldiers looked at Jaune that they were not met with the same person that knew.

"Fergus?" Jaune questioned with a low yet terrified voice, which became evident by his petrified facial expression.

"Aye, I'm here." Fergus replied back calmly, with his voice and facial expression clearly drained of the burning anger that once raged in him moments earlier.

"Jaune!" Yang cried out loud as she rushed over to Jaune's left with Ferguson and sat him up in her hands as best as she could, "Are you okay?"

"Ugh…easy…" Jaune stuttered feebly as pain lingered at the back of his throat, "I…I can't…can't feel…my legs…"

"Jesus…" Ferguson cursed under his breath as he felt Jaune's legs, only to be met with a chilling touch from Jaune's jeans and as well as his flesh buried underneath.

"Miss, we don't know who you are, but we got this Jaune fellow's life on the line here." Bennet grimly warned as he sat to Jaune's right, "If you can do anything for us, you going have to help us carry him back to the trenches. It's our only way we can save him, considering that Father Palmer and the medics can attend to his injuries, especially that right leg of his."

"Guys…" Jaune uttered weakly, "Yang..."

"Yes, we're here." Yang replied back quickly as she kept his head from leaning back into the snow.

"Pick me the hell up." Jaune growled with an extremely pained voice replacing what sounded like his dying breath.

"Johnny Boy, we can't do that." Ferguson declined decisively as he looked at Jaune straight in the eyes, "We still got those damn Beowolves out there, and god can only tell when that horde will ever end. Even with these 'goddesses' coming to our rescue, we're still a moving target for what mother nature will throw at us."

"You mean Grimm, right?" Yang chimed in.

"Aye, miss." Bennet replied before picking off where Ferguson stopped, "Now I don't what mother nature is thinking right now, but those banes of the earth seem to keep on coming as if god really hates us. Oh and before either of us forgets, who exactly are you?"

"The name is Yang." Yang said back, with a small smile threatening to form on her face upon greeting herself, "Say, it wouldn't hurt to tell me who you are, right?"

"Well…" Bennet nodded before finally introducing himself, "The name is Bennet, miss."

"Fergus." Ferguson greeted in a low voice, with his Scottish accent deeply emphasised in his voice, "Nothing else is much important of me for the moment."

"What about…me…?" Jaune painfully grunted as he struggled to keep himself conscious, "I can't…feel…my legs…"

"He's right, you know." Yang agreed grimly as she looked away from Jaune's pain and terror stricken face, "Are we going to watch him to die out, or are we going to save him? Because if I had a choice here, I rather leave you two while I…"

"That's hell enough!" Ferguson snapped back, with decisive yet defensive anger made completely clear in his voice, "Utter another word and we'll be doing the same to you as well. We put ourselves on the line to save his arse, and the last thing we need is someone like you to steal the show! Besides, in case you haven't notice, we're not the only ones here that risked getting our heads blown off you know."

Then, Dale came running back towards Ferguson, Bennet, Yang, and Jaune as if he had just saw a terrifying spectacle just now.

"Fergus?" Dale questioned as he became rather confused of the amount of people attending to a barely conscious Jaune Arc, "What happened here?"

"We might as well ask you something similar, lad." Fergus countered, "What's going on over there?"

For the first time, according to Fergus and Bennet, Dale had given a smile on his face before he happily and gratefully replied back, "You won't believe, sires. God finally seemed to answer our prayers and cries for help."

"We can tell by that…cat-woman over there." Bennet confirmed as he watched Blake emerge from the warzone and towards the Germans and the French, "And may I…?"

"Sure." Dale nodded, with joy gleaming from him even though Bennet stopped mid-sentence.

"My god…" Bennet cursed in disbelief, "Is that…red riding hood?"

Dale looked behind himself and towards the warzone to find that the so-called, cat-woman (aka, Blake), was not alone.

"Ruby?" Yang hollered out loud upon turning her head towards the warzone, "Ruby? Can you hear us?"

"Loud and clear, sis!" Red Riding Hood, now named Ruby, shouted back with a happy voice tone evident in her speech, "We just got to get these soldiers to safety."

"Heh, safety?" Ferguson chuckled, "Do any of you ladies know how to speak German or French?"

"Ger-man? French?" Yang repeated with confusion and a slight hint of insult in her voice.

"Parlez-vous Français?" Ferguson spoken with his heavy Scottish accent, "Oder Deutsch, eh?"

"Um…" Yang hesitantly attempted to snap back, "Say again."

Ferguson could only sigh in disappointment as he nodded his head back and forth before an inaudible muttered escaped from his breath, "This is going to be a long bloody day."

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 **Author's Note** **(** **s** **):** Hello and Welcome back ladies and gentlemen for Chapter Six of this story. Phew, what a doozy! This was by far the most graphic and dramatic scene I have ever written for a story, and this is my first time writing a chapter completely focused upon a gory yet spectacular scene in this story. Otherwise, I like to apologise for how long this chapter took to create, but with this chapter out there now, team RWBY has finally found Jaune and teamed up with the Scottish, French, and Germans. Until next time, I hope you all enjoy this story and I wish you all to stay tune for the next chapter, and be sure to leave a review for this story if you can.


	7. Chapter 07 - Preview

**RWBY** **:** **Dans le Nid d'Aigle**

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 **Chapter 07** **-** **Un Démarrage à Froid**

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 **10:50am** **-** **Earlier**

 **Emerald Forest** **,** **Team RWBY**

Weiss could not decide whether or not she should give Ruby a slap on the hand, across the face, or in the worst case scenario, a scolding. Of course, Ruby was the team leader and was leading everyone in the right direction leading towards the northeast area of No Man's Land; however, the one thing that ticked Weiss off was the fact that Ruby was getting sick every five minutes. Though Ruby was a healthy huntress, the previous scene of witnessing the dismembered limbs and bodies of unnamed riflemen on the barbed wire and trenches had caused Ruby to feel nauseous, but she was not the only one with sickening conditions.

Blake and Yang were not as spontaneously ill like Ruby, but both members have been unusually quiet for the past ten minutes as if they were equally disgusted with each other. Weiss may be cold and strict on the outside, but knowing the personalities and behaviours of every member in team RWBY, Weiss knew that Yang was not the kind of person who would strictly keep their mouth shut; a trait that mostly belonged to Blake. But even with Blake's silence, something did not feel right between the two other than an occasionally ill Ruby.

Luckily, Ruby has not vomited for a second or third time, but the quietness between Blake and Yang was enough to make Weiss ponder in silence. If Weiss spoke her personal thoughts out loud, she would first question Yang about her reasons for such an unusual silence; considering that Yang was always the outgoing carefree brawler who would not hesitate to tell even the most terrible puns that anyone has ever heard in their lives. On top of that, being that Yang was also the heavy-hitter of team RWBY, Weiss knew for a fact that Yang can easily shrug off even the most crippling blows from much stronger foes and keep on fighting like as if nothing happened.

Unfortunately, even Weiss's own silence in thought was eventually interrupted by the deafening inhuman echo of a man's deathly scream. Such a disturbing sound that echoed into all of team RWBY's ears was enough for everyone to almost literally freeze in place, with every goosebump standing on everyone's backs like a wall of needles. Weiss almost held her breath as she heard the man's death scream, and if she thought she was the scaredy-cat at first, just moments later, Ruby yelped in fear while gripping her older sister dearly like a cat hanging onto a branch.

"That doesn't sound good." Yang grimly informed as she swivelled her head around to pinpoint the direction of the scream.

No one dared to follow up with Yang's commentary for the moment before another sound eventually echoed their way to team RWBY's ears. The sound of gunfire became all too familiar to team RWBY; however, according to Ruby herself, the gunfire was peculiar in which the sounds belonged to a collection of hunting rifles, which was largely due to the fact that the gunfire was firing in a rather rapid succession. If Ruby also had Blake's faunus traits, she could have sworn she heard the racking and clanking of the bolt-actions upon the rifles faintly echoing as well; however, these sounds were hard to decipher due to the sound of an all too familiar threat.

"Beowolves." Blake simply blurred out loud as the distant sounds of Beowolves growling and howling in pain and/or aggression in the distance of where the gunshots were occurring.

"Indeed." Yang simply commented while she was keeping Ruby in a soft hug to assure her that everything was okay; however, that did not prevent Ruby from knowing what was going on.

"Indeed?" Ruby objected out loud as she propped her head up from the hug of her older sister, "Why are we still standing here? Shouldn't we go and check it out?"

"You're not entirely serious, are you?" Weiss advised, whom her voice was mixed with worry and annoyance, "We have an assignment to complete, and we are just within reaching distance of accomplishing said perimeters of this assignment."

"That may be true, but would that really hurt us from checking out the gunfire?" Ruby proposed hesitantly, "I don't wish to see another dead body out here, and nor are we going to stand here and do nothing about it."

"We have a mission, and we are going to complete." Weiss deadpanned her advised, "The last time I checked the coordinates, we are merely within a few dozen steps of entering into No Man's Land."

"Well, belay that then." Ruby opposed once more while she released herself from the hug of her older sister, "We're going to check out the gunfire. I'm not going to be the one doing nothing as people die all around me."

"Rubes, wait!" Yang frantically demanded as Ruby took off into the forest and into the direction of the distant gunfire.

"You're not helping." Weiss nodded negatively as she crossed her arms.

"Excuse me?" Yang snapped back, whom she was partially offended by Weiss's negatively, "Say that again from the Ice Queen whose doing nothing either."

"Hey!" Weiss spat out loud with venom in her voice, "Says it from the person who kept their mouth shut for a good ten minutes."

"Oh really?" Yang challenged, "Like if I was really thinking about keeping myself quiet on purpose? What about Blakey over here, does she count?"

"I can care less about…" Weiss to scoffed in regards to Blake; however, when Weiss bobbed her head to the right, she was met with a startling revelation before her and Yang's eyes…she was gone.

"Huh?" Weiss exclaimed in a mixed state of surprise and panic, "Not again."

"Well, talk about leaving in a hurry." Yang comment, with her voice relatively surprised by Blake's sudden disappearance.

"Good Oum, save me." Weiss muttered disappointedly mixed with venom.

"Best we follow suit, unless you want to stand here and freeze to death, I'm fine with that." Yang proposed, whom she gave Weiss very little time to make her decision before taking off into the forest.

"Hey!" Weiss snarled in offense as she watched Yang take off without here, "You fiend! How dare you…!"

Of course, Yang cared less to give a reply back as she unleashed a blast from her shotgun gauntlets, Ember Celica, to give herself a high-speed boost and completely disappeared into the thicket of the forest.

"Those dolts." Weiss muttered again, as she kept her arms crossed before barely pacing around in anger, "If you want to go off on me like that, fine."

At that exact moment, Weiss uncrossed her arms and took out her scroll to pull up the map of Emerald Forest and the coordinates leading into the northeast area of No Man's Land.

" _So much can go so wrong, and it always happens to me."_ Weiss thought to herself, _"But, I don't need those dolts anyway. We have a mission, and if those dolts decide that it's alright to abandon ship like that on me, I'll complete this mission…myself."_

Soon, Weiss began to follow the coordinates by walking forward and passing by a few trees, as well as a bundle of snow-laden leaves from a fallen branch. Her footsteps made a notably loud crinkle in the snow, and judging by the depth of her footprints, Weiss was walking with anger still evident in her body language as if she was dealing with a personal nuisance. Although she was not entirely loud in her footsteps, one might say that she was subtly stomping in the snow as if she was marching; however, there was more to Weiss than it appeared on the outside.

" _Always abandoning me since day one."_ Weiss kept thinking to herself negatively, _"How can someone like her abandon a mission for something so irrelevant at the moment?"_

One may say that she may be overthinking her team leader's attention deprivation, but when considering the fact that Weiss was going to explore mostly uncharted territory by herself, the extra manpower was going to come in handy in case things go haywire. Whether it was Weiss beating herself up in silence with bad luck or a bad attitude, the mission was of great importance for Weiss since it can help her compensate for a few incomplete assignments, and as well as help her bring her grade from a high B to a straight A. Aside from sticking with the mission in the sake of her academic grades, Weiss did not have to keep overthinking her lonesome situation any longer when she finally broke through the tree line and into a clearing.

Upon taking a glance at her scroll, she continued to walk for a few more steps out in the clearing when her boots made a curiously small clank in the snow; however, she failed to initially recognise the unusual noise from her jackboots until she eventually stepped on what felt like frozen wood before hearing a similarly curious small clank. Immediately after hearing the clank a second time, Weiss stopped just as she completely stepped off and turned around to notice what she was stepping on. Whether it was her keen eyesight or hearing, it registered to Weiss that she was stepping on something metallic yet thin as if she was walking on some piping.

Normally Weiss would careless about the smallest of details, but because of the unusual appearance of the unknown metallic and wooden objects buried in the snow, Weiss was slightly irked as much as she was completely curious to what she just walked on. Therefore, thinking rather quickly, Weiss closed her scroll and placed it back on right hip before kneeling down in the snow and wiping the snow off with her bare hands. With only just half a dozen swipes back and forth, Weiss wiped off enough snow to reveal the very object that was steeping on just moments ago.

" _Shell Casings?"_ Weiss thought to herself in surprise; however, those two word was such a fatal understatement.

The specific shell casings that Weiss recovered from the snow were apparently gigantic and oversized in comparison to the shell casings found in ordinary firearms. If Weiss had something to compare with these oversized shell casings, it would be like comparing a 9x19mm pistol cartridge with a 40x158mm shell casing, or letting a candle sit next to a bonfire. Of course, said comparisons may not be entirely accurate if Weiss ever knew, but considering the size of these cold brass shell casings, Weiss could not help but pick up one of the casings in both of her hands and weight it.

Surprisingly, Weiss was slightly astonished to find that these shell casings were a bit heavy despite the lack of a bullet on top; however, it was shortly upon looking at the front of the shell casing that Weiss's astonishment was shot down. As it turned out, the shell casing was closed at the top as if it was meant to make the entire shell casing a simple dummy round or a movie prop. Though as much as Weiss examined the shell casing, Weiss was about to put the shell casing down in some disappointment when she saw something metallic that had apparently been hiding underneath the shell casing.

There lying on top of another shell casing were two oversized bullets, specifically as if they were warheads meant to be fired from a cannon. Covered in small bits of snow that had either spilled over from the other shell casings on top or from Weiss brushing the snow away, the shells were in pristine condition as if they had just rolled off the assembly line from a dust munition factory just hours or even a couple days ago; however, despite coming from the Schnee Dust Company, Weiss did not recognise these kind of heavy munition, even if it looked as it belonged to an artillery piece. As a matter of fact, Weiss could only ponder as to who and why would anyone would use artillery guns in an age where guided missile weapons are dominant.

Therefore, upon setting the shell casing down to her right, Weiss could not help but continue to wipe off the snow from the shell casings in order to access the artillery shells underneath. Luckily, even if she was luging the cartridges and shells from out of the snow, Weiss was unusually grateful that she was alone, since Ruby would have a field day upon seeing the sight of artillery-graded munitions being recovered from the snow; however, despite being alone, Weiss was bothered by just one problem. It was only after taking out just one of the shells and laying it in front of the oversized brass cartridges that Weiss could only wonder as to what kind of artillery piece would be able to accept and fire this kind of munition.

Of course, Weiss could sift through the Schnee Dust Company database in regards to their products upon munitions and weaponry; however, she would have to go to the Cross Continental Transmit Tower (CCT Tower) in order to properly and reliably access such information, something that she cannot do out in the field. And neither can she be able to ask Ozpin about this kind of information, considering that not only was he a headmaster, but he would ask questions in regards to the whereabouts of team RWBY – something that Weiss could not be able to adequate provide an answer for without having to lie and ultimately landing herself in trouble. Therefore, Weiss can only leave the scene as it as before she stood up and began taking half a dozen pictures with her scroll; however, just as Weiss was about to take the last couple pictures on her scroll and proceed to complete the remaining distance towards No Man's Land, the sound of an unknown male voice in the distance somewhere nearby drew Weiss on full alert.

"I swear, either I lost me self…or simply the artillery regiment had made a run for it, sire." Said one of the voices, which was peculiar since it spoke with an unusually thick yet unknown accent.

"Not with all that kind of equipment that had, father." Added another voice with an identical accent, only except this one was partially higher, "Considering that they had those eighteen pounders to move, and it doesn't help that fact that those poor chaps had to dig themselves out from the blizzard if they wanted to get moving."

"Aye, sire." The first voice, simply known as father, objected back, "But I don't like how we can't find those guns out here."

"Not if we get the boys to digging for survivors out here." The second voice replied back to father with slight enthusiasm in his voice, "With Audebert lending us the extra manpower, we'll be able to find those guns as well as any other poor bastards out here in no time."

"If you say so sire…," Father agreed back with a partially assured voice tone, "Let's only pray for mercy upon those poor souls out here."

At first, Weiss can only ponder about the given information provided by these two men talking to each other somewhere nearby. First off, Weiss could immediately figure out that the unknown men were talking about some kind of artillery guns that they had to find, which made sense for Weiss, since the munitions that she found buried in the snow had to belong to some kind of artillery piece that Weiss was in dire need of finding. Second, aside from the curious accents, Weiss did not know if it was just military intuition or her own instinct, but she had to take note that these two men were of a military affiliation in the manner of how they addressed each other.

Unfortunately, despite Weiss's training and knowledge as a Huntress-in-Training, Weiss could not afford to throw herself into a conflict without any backup, considering that she was now stepping into uncharted territory within the strip of land called, No Man's Land. And being that there were two possible soldiers moving about somewhere, Weiss had to find cover and hide until she see the soldiers; however, being that she excavated parts of a munitions rack within the snow, Weiss did not have much time to cover her tracks. But on the contrary, considering that these two soldiers were talking about artillery guns, Weiss decided that it was only best to hide herself and leave the scene as it is until the soldiers arrive and see the site from themselves.

Therefore, Weiss quickly took off back to the bushes that she had emerged from moments ago and hid behind them, just in time to narrowly anticipate the arrival of the two unknown soldiers; however, when Weiss hastily settled down to have a good look at the soldiers, she was immediately taken back by their military uniforms. She was no military officer herself, but she could tell that these two soldiers were wearing antique military uniforms; both of such were wearing identical military uniforms that were comprised of dark khaki trousers with puttees and black boots, a coat that beared no other colour than dark khaki, a khaki coloured webbing, and a distinctive garrison cap with a red and white checker strip. Lastly, and not least, the soldier that was taking the lead was of a man who had black hair and a short moustache, whereas the other soldier had a more solid yet elderly face along with grey short hair that was mostly hidden underneath the garrison cap.

Not surprisingly, Weiss watched the two soldiers emerge from the foliage not too far out in front of where Weiss had excavated the munitions, and almost immediately, both soldiers shortly rushed over to the site that Weiss just created; however, it was only as Weiss kept watching both soldiers proceeding to investigate the scene that she realised that she made a critical mistake. All around the site, her shoeprints proved as a fatal giveaway to her whereabouts as she noticed the black-haired soldier stopping himself and looking at where the footprints were going. It was at this moment that Weiss realised that her carelessness rendered her curiosity for nothing, as the black-haired soldier drew a revolver in his right hand and keeping it low and close to his body as he pointed the gun towards the bushes…

Right where Weiss was hiding…

"Bastards…" The black-haired soldier cursed under his breath before he stepped carefully away from the excavation site and cautiously walking closer to the bushes.

"Sire?" The grey-haired soldier questioned, only to be shushed back by the black-haired soldier.

"Stay with the site, father." The black-haired soldier warned as he stood in place, "We're not alone out here."

"Yes, sire." The grey-haired soldier (now confirmed to be called, Father) replied back as he took out a small shovel from his anterior pouch on his webbing as his only defensive weapon.

The black-haired soldier took a couple more steps towards the bushes that Weiss was hiding behind before he finally shouted a warning, "Come out of the bushes at once! I know you're all in there, lads!"

Weiss almost virtually froze in place as fear and metaphorical paralyse struck her like a freight train. Without team RWBY to counteract the soldier and his fellow comrade standing near the excavation site, there was no way that Weiss was going to defuse the situation with violence, as non-lethal force can only be authorised if the enemy hits or shoots first in this mission. Even if Weiss could use her glyphs to shield her from the soldier's revolver, she would only aggravate the situation, considering that these were two grown men that not only were dressed like soldiers, but had possibly years of experience from being out in the field if they wield such militaristic clothing and equipment on them.

Therefore, Weiss hated to admit her mistake to others, but she saw now other point in hiding, and she decided to stand up with her hands raised up yet well below her head as a gesture of surrender; however, upon emerging from the bushes, the reaction from both soldiers was peculiar.

"Aye?" Father frowned as he looked at Weiss as if she was an unusual breed of wild animal, "Sire?"

"Good riddens…" The black-haired soldier uttered as if shame and silent surprise struck him in the face like a grenade, "What is someone like you doing out here?"

"I pretty much can ask you gentlemen the same thing." Weiss proposed towards both adult soldiers.

"With all due respect milady," Father informed as he kept the small shovel downwards, "But if I may mention that you're in a warzone."

"Warzone?" Weiss questioned with confusion running an all-time high.

"Yes, madam." The black-haired soldier confirmed as he kept his revolver at the ready in his right hand, "This area that you're standing on was once where our artillery regiment once stood. But thanks to whoever dug up this munition pile over here, we're now able to get this area back in order."

"Well, I was the one who excavated those shells, though." Weiss admitted.

"You?" Father questioned with curiosity and concern in his voice, "How did you know where to look, miss?"

"I didn't know, I simply stumbled upon it and began to dig it up, until you two came along." Weiss replied, with annoyance slowly emerging in her words in response to the soldiers' questioning.

"Now, take it easy, miss." The black-haired soldier attempted to assure Weiss, "We're just trying to be sure here, since we cannot take any chances with deserters or raiders, and neither those…demons, or whatever those monsters are out here."

"Demons?" Weiss questioned curiously while slightly craning her head to the left.

Both soldiers looked at each other for a moment before Father finally gave an explanation, "The demons are tall, red and white…almost like armour, and they're…like werewolves, from ancient mythology."

"You mean Beowolves?" Weiss added in as her next question.

"Beowolves?" The black-haired soldier frowned as if he failed to hear Weiss correctly.

"Yes, that's what those things are called." Weiss informed as her annoyance finally became slightly apparent in her voice, "They're one of the creatures of Grimm. Don't tell me you haven't heard of them."

At this point, both soldiers began to express their confusion as well as their curiosity from Weiss's dialogue; however, on the other hand, Weiss's annoyance did not go entirely unnoticed in her words.

"Madame, I'm sorry." The black-haired soldier apologised before asking the last question that Weiss wanted to hear from someone, "But we haven't heard of Grimm before."

"Unless she's referring to Brothers Grimm, sire." Father proposed, which did little to alter Weiss's increasing annoyance.

"As in fairy tales?" The black-haired soldier asked in his attempt to confirm this source; however, he never got a reply back from Father when Weiss suddenly growled out loud in frustration.

"Just never mind." Weiss grunted as she crossed her arms and looking away from both men, "I'm just trying to tell you that those demons you saw were Beowolves, as in the creatures of Grimm. Should I say more?"

Not surprisingly, both soldiers looked at each other in disbelief as if they had been offended by Weiss's sudden outburst; which could not have been more apparent by the black-haired soldier murmuring inaudibly before Father finally spoke up in the direction of Weiss.

"Milady…"

Unfortunately, Weiss instantly snapped with a disgruntle command, "And stop calling me that! The name is Weiss Schnee, unless you don't know that either!"

Before either soldier could react, there was a sound that both Weiss and the soldiers knew as one of the auspicious signs of trouble. The sound of bushes rustling behind Weiss shattered the bitterness that rung from Weiss's voice, and not surprisingly, both soldiers and as well as Weiss turned towards the source with tension and a growling level of anxiety and anticipation of an incoming Grimm. Weiss gripped her rapier, Myrtenaster, that was sheathed on her left hip, while the black-haired soldier raised his revolver up towards the bushes as Father only gripped his small shovel; however, neither Weiss or the soldiers had to counterattack the threat when another sound followed.

Weiss looked back at the soldiers for a moment, and was slightly confused when she noticed that both soldiers' facial expressions slowly morphed into concern, which would otherwise be partially odd until Weiss heard the sound of someone panting and grunting in pain as if he/she had been in a fight. Then, as the panting got closer and closer to Weiss and the soldiers, the foliage broke away by the slumping of another soldier in an identical uniform to Father and the black-haired soldier; however, the smell of blood hung heavily upon the soldier's entry, which only made both Weiss, Father, and the black-haired soldier immediately worried and partially fear-stricken. The unknown soldier was struggling to crawl towards Weiss and the two other soldiers, and it was for good reasons with the trail of blood coming from the soldier's left leg and as well as the stump of what used to be his left arm.

"Holy Christ…" The black-haired soldier cursed under his breath as he holstered his revolver and rushed over to the soldier's mortal injuries.

Subsequently, Weiss and Father rushed over to the dying soldier's aid as well, and it soon became apparent upon cradling the soldier that this man had suffered more than just an amputation and multiple lacerations. Weiss could only look away with her eyes closed and her right hand covering her mouth when she saw that the soldier's clothes were not only bloodied, but were also torn to pieces to reveal deep bite marks and bits of torn flesh that made the soldier's skin looked like a poorly shredded orange. If there was anything that Weiss wanted to do other than looking away from the grisly carnage upon the dying soldier's body, she was tempting to vomit what remained of her breakfast and wish not that she hadn't rushed over to assist in catering the soldier's last moments.

Never in her life did Weiss have to witness or experience such a horrific scene, and she could be thankful that this was worse than both her mother and father arguing ever so bitterly back at home. Whether it was her own natural reaction to look away from the mortally wounded soldier lying in the snow under the care of both soldiers and Weiss, or the coincidence of a sudden sickness in her stomach to occur at the wrong time, Weiss could not be sure anymore as to what she looking for in what might now be No Man's Land; however, it was at that moment that Weiss realised that this soldier belonged to a familiar sight from earlier. There were dead soldiers that looked identical to the one that was now dying in Weiss and both soldiers' hands, and just like those dead bodies that were tangled and mangled upon the barbed wire or strewn about in the snow and the trenches, this soldier was no different to following the same fate of his fellow comrades.

"Mother almighty…" Father murmured in grim disbelief as he mustered the strength to look at the dying soldier as well as the gruesome injuries he inflected from whatever struggle he had endured, "Who did this to you?"

The soldier only seemed to ever so slightly shutter as he laid in the snow with his right hand on top of his abdomen, possibly to apply pressure on what is already a frozen slash mark under the partially tattered clothing of his bloodied military uniform. His eyes were wide open in a state of perpetual fear and pain that no man or woman had to endure, and it was further reinforced with a blank facial expression as if he was staring up into the sky – too terrified to move his head or twitch his face in compliance with any given question. Even with Weiss and the two soldiers giving the best of their comfort for the poor soldier's dying breaths as they kneeled in the snow, there was nothing that could be done for such a poor soul when he has not only lost too much blood, but he cannot be ridden of the fearful facial expression retaining the stare that can kill a man from a thousand yards.

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 **Review Response (s)**:

 _Geomon123_ – "While your review was posted on 15th February 2017, you may have foreshadowed the fact that I will return eventually by Autumn. I gurantee you fellow readers that I will make this fanfiction into one of the best in RWBY crossovers. In the meantime, just hang in there as much as you can, more will be coming soon!"

 _HavenofUmbar_ – "I apologise for keeping you and many other followers waiting for a new chapter. I am back and I'll be getting this baby up and running once more. Stay tune for more updates, I'll be seeing you soon as well!"

 _DireProphet_ – "The MG42 would not be pressed into service into 1942 during World War Two. Though speaking of machine guns, I like to mention that the only portable machine available as seen in the movie – Joyeux Noel - was the Maxim MG08/15; however, even this machine gun would not be adopted until 1916, which you can technically consider this historically inaccurate. Nevertheless, being that the movie is one of my favourite Christmas movies, this historical inaccuracy is just a minor mistake, otherwise I deem the friendship between the two opposing sides more important than the guns used in World War One."

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 **Author's Note (s)**: Okay, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is probably the worst thing I ever done for a fanfiction story of mine, but this is what I've gotten together over this Summer 2017. This is just a preview of what I'm getting together for upcoming autumn season, Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2017. I am sincerely sorry if I left most if not all of you disappointed in me from reading this chapter. I'll update this son-of-a-gun as soon as I can, and hopefully college doesn't drive me insane as of this fall semester. Wish me luck folks, because this fall semester is going to be HECTIC!

Now with all that being said, some of may have noticed that I had uploaded a RWBY OC Showcase as a separate story of its own. If you want to find out more as to why I had uploaded such a thing, go ahead and read for yourselves at the showcase, I left an author's note at chapter one as my explanation. Now as for "RWBY: Dans le Nid d'Aigle", I have plans for this story, and I'm hellbent on getting this up and running again, regardless if college gets in my way and decides to drown me in endless waves of homework, reading, and papers. I will have my ups and downs throughout this fall semester, but if there was one thing that I will keep, I will never forget about entertaining those who enjoy RWBY and the delight of the differences when worlds collide.

Throughout 2017 up until now, I am certainly intrigued that other WWI-RWBY crossovers had made it onto this site, most of them coming from Battlefield One. I may not have seen all those WWI-RWBY crossovers out there, but in case any of you know some of those stories (crossover or not), feel free to recommend those stories in the reviews or PM if you have a chance. As of this story – "RWBY: Dans le Nid d'Aigle" – so far, the hiatus is over, and I present you the jumpstart to get this story going again. This may only be a first draft preview into the next chapter and beyond, please do not forget that not only did I had to prepare for college, but family always calls for me regardless of my independence. Well, this summer and spring of 2017 had been quite a dozy, and I am glad that I am writing fanfiction again; however, let this note tell you all that I am back!

This chapter may not be much, so I will be updating this as soon as possible before October.

WISH ME LUCK, FOLKS! I'LL SEE YOU ALL SOON!


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